COLUMN: Losing to lung cancer
I was introduced to death at the early age of six.
At the time, I thought my grandpa was just going to be taking a long nap. I remember my parents telling me that I would see him again someday, and he was leaving for a long time. I observed the people around me at the funeral, and when I looked at my grandfather in his casket, I saw the life taken out of him. I remember asking if he was going to wake up, but I never really received a response to that. It wouldn’t be until nearly a decade later that I understood how he died– lung cancer.
The reason I’m sharing my story is not because he died of old age or because he was a smoker and died. It’s because he quit smoking to live a better life and only a year out from retirement, he was diagnosed with stage four-lung cancer. He died soon after the diagnosis.
November is Lung Cancer Awareness month, and I always reflect on my grandpa’s death, and I remind myself how terrible cigarettes are for you. My grandpa was my favorite person in the world. From what I remember, he always knew how to make me laugh, and he was always a crowd favorite. He was offered a chance to play for the Tigers but turned it down hoping for something better. He was much like my father, and I see the striking resemblance of my grandpa when I look at my dad. I think of him every single day.
I remember lying next to him throughout his last few days. I can see the hospital bed set up in his house with the IVs attached to him. I remember him smiling as if nothing was going to happen. I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t get up to play, and now it breaks my heart to think he was too weak to breath while standing up.
Cigarettes can be so detrimental to one’s health. Yes, I understand people get stressed, and they feel the need to smoke or whatever their reason might be, but you can prevent so many health risks by not smoking. I understand life is unfair, but to see my grandma live on without him, who happens to still be a chain smoker, is something I will never understand. My grandpa wanted to improve his quality of life, but instead he was taken away from this world way too soon.
If my grandpa didn’t smoke in his younger years, there is a chance he would still be here today. Now that I understand just what smoking is, it makes me so sad to know he could have avoided lung cancer. Maybe it was his fate to die of lung cancer, but I can’t help but think that if he didn’t smoke, he would still be here today.
Not every case of lung cancer deals with smokers. In fact, about 60 percent of lung cancer patients have never been smokers. Lung cancer is responsible for about 28 percent of all cancer deaths.
My hope is that people will be more conscious of what they are doing to their bodies. It's your life, but you control what happens.
