I am going to be honest, I struggled quite a bit with my father's lung cancer diagnosis. As a child I had begged him to quit smoking, especially when his own mother died from the disease. When he was diagnosed in November of 2011, I was flooded with so many mixed emotions. Of course sadness and fear but also anger. I had tried to prevent this from happening! But I quickly realized my anger was not helping anything. My father still needed my support, my love and my encouragement. What he didn't need was my blame or guilt. And no one, no matter what they are facing, needs that. Of course after the initial shock it was easy to go into caring mode and once I was there, I never looked back. No one deserves this disease and every person deserves support while fighting it. My dad went through surgery, chemo and radiation and has had clean scans ever since. I don't doubt for one moment that the support from our family, friends and neighbors helped him achieve a positive outcome. So I guess my message is- if you are facing lung cancer, don't be afraid to ask for help. And don't be afraid to speak up about your disease. The more attention we give to this disease, the more support we will get and we will get one step closer to beating lung cancer.
