“There’s lots of educating to be done around lung cancer,” said the 59-year-old, who’s currently involved in a clinical trial and has been NED (no evidence of disease) for two years. “I’ve been shocked by people I thought were relatively open-minded who’ve said to me, ‘If someone smokes, they deserve lung cancer.’ Yes, it’s healthier not to smoke, but it’s not a sin that warrants the death penalty.”

Unfortunately, even patients who are diagnosed with the disease sometimes feel that it does.

“[The stigma] affects patients very strongly,” she said. “I have two friends who knew heavy smokers who were diagnosed and they both said, ‘I deserved this’ and refused to get treatment.”

The intensity of the heartbreak that follows losing a loved one, especially a parent, can feel insurmountable. It’s a terrible loss at any age, but to lose a parent at a turning point in both your life and theirs, as you are preparing to share milestones of your own with them, that loss seems exceptionally poignant. The loss of a beloved parent casts a bittersweet shadow on every occasion from that point forward. Their absence is unavoidable during every holiday, birthday, and milestone. Additionally, the process of watching a loved one suffer the trauma of being diagnosed, the toll of the psychological burden, and the physical degradation as a result of the disease is life-changing and soul-crushing. It’s the entire experience that impacts those the victim leaves behind, not just their absence. It’s been said that everyone processes and manages that impact differently, and I believe that to be true. My personal journey of processing and managing that impact has inspired me to create an opposite, equally positive, impact.