Shared Stories

Most people never think twice about taking a breath—until it becomes something you have to fight for.

When I was 4 years old, my childhood home had black mold that neither my parents nor professionals could find until five years later.

Jeff was diagnosed with COPD in 2020. He had worked construction in paper mills and oil refineries for 38 years.

My whole life growing up, I was playing sports — it was all I thought about. I ended up going to college on a cross country scholarship. I ran for four years at Lincoln Memorial University, setting records and serving as team captain.

Smoke from burning of any source — including prescribed burns, debris burning, wood stoves, garbage burning and other open burning — has affected my health, causing sinusitis, vocal cord dysfunction, dry eye irritation and lung distress.

I work as a clinic nurse at an elementary school in downtown Houston, Texas. I live in the suburbs, and as I drive into work each day, I see the brown haze that hangs over the city center.

Hi, my name's Lydia. I am in eighth grade right now. I struggle with a chronic lung disease called asthma.

I grew up in a smoking family. Back in those days, there was no education on the dangers of smoking. In fact, cigarette advertising campaigns on TV and in print were the norm. After many years of smoking, I decided to quit completely 25 years ago.

I climb for my father who we lost in 2013 and my mother who died in 2017 - my father died from complications due to COPD and my mother died from lung cancer.

I am an early career physician scientist, on year 4/5 of my K23. I recently submitted a U01 grant to NIAID to study novel drug combinations in patients with M.abscessus lung disease.

At my annual checkup in 2024, my primary care physician recommended and ordered a low-dose CT scan. I was afraid of what the test might find, since I started smoking as a teenager.

In December 2020, I developed a lingering cough. Some days it seemed to improve, so I didn’t get it checked out. It continued into January, when I developed a raspy voice for no apparent reason.

In January 2020, I was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer. My local surgeon didn’t know what it was, so he referred me to Stanford.

This picture was taken after Thanksgiving 2024, when our mom was diagnosed with stage 4 adenocarcinoma and an EGFR genetic mutation.

I used to live in Redlands, California — near San Bernardino in the Los Angeles suburbs, an area known as the Inland Empire — from 2014 to 2022.