Cancer survivors, family members and other advocates of lung cancer awareness and research recently visited the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), partner with UPMC CancerCenter, as part of the Free to Breathe Action Summit.
The group, which advocates for more awareness of and funding for lung cancer research, toured the UPCI labs and spoke to researchers who are working to understand more about this disease and ways to treat it. The group of about 70 people from all over the U.S. came to Pittsburgh for its annual meeting. The group’s ultimate goal is to double lung cancer survival by 2022.
“Our time was incredibly moving. Not only did we get to see cutting-edge science and technology at work, it was, as one of my fellow advocates put so well, like magic,” said Rachel Troychock, who runs a local National Free to Breathe Walk in Bloomsburg, Pa., as co-captain of Team Haney. “It was inspiring to see what advances are being made in the field and to hear the passion in the scientists’ voices as they talk about what they do every day.”
More people die in the U.S. from lung cancer every year than from any other kind of cancer. Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, though as many as 30,000 nonsmokers are diagnosed with the disease every year.
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