Historias compartidas

I’ve had asthma as a child. I’ve lived in small “towns” which by the most recent census rules are our ally urban areas most of my life except for a few years in elementary in the late 80s and early 90s when we lived in round rock and Austin, TX.

My journey has been one of hope, gratitude, and self-advocacy.

On my fourteenth birthday, a family friend gifted me a “learn how to knit” set.

I started smoking at 17 and smoked for the next 18 years. I quit in April 2007, at the request of my 12 year old daughter.

Hearing the word cancer is scary – hearing the diagnosis of lung cancer was terrifying.

It was the summer of 1979. I was 4 years old and my maternal grandfather, daddy as we called him succumbed to his battle with lung cancer.

August 2015 changed our lives forever: my mother, Candice Warren, was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer.

My Dad and I lost my mom to lung cancer.

On February 12, 2021, I was diagnosed with stage three squamous lung cancer. It impacted my life in many ways.

“Portia, I want to do this.” These were the exact words from my mother (Sharonne L. Lopez) as she handed me the flier from the counter.

It began when my primary physician ordered a CT scan to determine why I was having pelvic pain.

My name is Sam Akers, and I reside in Augusta, Georgia, with my wife and daughter, who is in her first year at Georgia Southern University.

My lung cancer journey began on December 8, 2018 with a cough.

Had my Dad, Leon Lee Wheeler, survived his NSCS lung cancer diagnosis, he would have turned 84 on March 1st.

My name is Jennifer Chikoyak. I have spent the last 18 years working to educate my fellow Alaskans about the health harms related to tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke because of my Grandma Shirley.