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Just prior to
being told I suffered from stage IV Lung Cancer , Dr. Karen Kelly,
an Oncologist at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, lifted her arms and
emphatically exclaimed,
“We
have to raise the awareness of Lung Cancer”.
With
those words resonating in my head, I thought back to those high school moments
and the few drags I took from my cigarettes. I thought of the precious few years
that followed. Years that would include a marriage, a son, my youth and
cigarettes. I remembered the day I said,
“No
more”.
That was the day I was given another diagnosis by my doctor, I would again be a
mother. That day was fourteen years ago. That day came after a few precious
years clouded by smoke.
The
day I quit, I was 27 years old. Lung cancer was something I understood the
elderly suffered from. It was nothing a young mother of two children need bother
herself with. I was 28 when my daughter was born. I was young, in love and
beginning to walk my path of life. At 37, I was living a life some would call a
fairy tale. At 37 I was given the gift of another daughter.
Then,
standing there listening to this oncologist tell me I have stage IV lung cancer……....
I was only 39.
I
knew at that very moment what God had designed for me. My purpose was to open a
Foundation that would focus on raising the Awareness and Prevention
of Lung Cancer and save other families of its horrific
effects.
The
metastasis to my brain would raise its’
ugly head at 41. Lung cancer had moved into my brain in September of 2004, which
just fueled my passion. The picture attached was taken with my youngest daughter
after my first of three brain surgeries. The
“head
band”
is actually the incision made by the brain surgeon and sutured shut by 32
staples.
What
you need to know is this ; nearly a half a million Americans will die from
illnesses due to cigarette smoke this year. A third of those will be lung
cancer. As a woman, I need to tell you that women with a smoking history are
ten times (10X) more likely to die from lung cancer than they are from
breast cancer.
With
that, know that the Susan L. DeWitt Foundation for Extended Breath (SLD
Foundation) has a mission to raise the awareness and prevention of lung cancer
and related illnesses. Illnesses that endanger tobacco users and non-users. Our
focus is to; isolate our children from ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke),
educate our youth as to the consequences of smoking and to assist
“at
risk”
people by resolving addiction, creating a method of early diagnosis and
increasing survival rate.
Lung Cancer…………
Just Stop It!
With deepest
regards,
Susan L.
DeWitt (Susie)
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