Potomac Resident Speaks Out About Lung Cancer

By Andrea Stern Ferris

Four years ago, I would not have dreamed that I would be engaged in a lifelong campaign to raise funds for lung cancer research. I knew virtually nothing about lung cancer and certainly never conceived that I would be involved in creating a national conversation about the disease. However, my mother’s devastating diagnosis of Stage IV lung cancer in 2006 and her death almost two years later began our family’s search for information, a caring community and powerful advocates committed to ending the scourge of lung cancer.  

My mother, Pat Stern, loved life. She loved her friends, her community and above all else, her family. Her lung cancer diagnosis blindsided us. She had stopped smoking 16 years earlier and was vigilant about her annual chest x-rays. My mother was given only a short time to live but bravely fought for 21 months, submitting to clinical trials, chemotherapy and all the best possible treatments, but she ultimately succumbed to the disease.

As my mother’s fight with lung cancer was winding down, mine was just beginning. Her illness had revealed to me how our nation had neglected lung cancer’s devastation for far too long. Our support of scientific research had been grossly inadequate, and we were seeing the consequences. Eighty-five percent of lung cancer patients die within five years of their diagnosis. The disease kills more Americans every year than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined. We have not invested sufficiently in finding reliable methods of early detection, or targeted treatments that can make a difference. As a result, lung cancer is our nation’s number one cancer killer.

Our family realized there was a need for a Komen type organization for lung cancer that could scale up quickly, reach those impacted, help fund critical research, and drive home the message that lung cancer research can greatly improve survivability. After founding an organization dedicated to this mission, we joined forces with LUNGevity Foundation, creating a national lung cancer nonprofit.

Lung cancer has taken a terrible toll on our nation. One in 14 Americans will be affected by the disease, and it attacks indiscriminately, regardless of age, gender, or smoking history. I believe we could one day see a world where no one dies from lung cancer, but we will need everyone’s help to get there. I hope you will join us to make that day happen.

Andrea Stern Ferris is a Potomac resident and the president and chairman of the LUNGevity Foundation.