Before it’s too late!

Nearly 20% of long-term smokers will develop COPD!

My mother survived lung cancer, but she couldn’t outlast COPD.

By: Christina O’Neill, managing editor, Worcester Business Journal

August 11, 2006

A smoker since her teens, Mom quit cold turkey when she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1991 at age 76. She survived the removal of 2/3 of her right lung, and returned to her home, where she lived alone. At the time of her surgery, her doctor told her she had emphysema, also a result of smoking.

We filed that fact away – until mid-1999, when Mom ended up in the emergency room because she was having trouble breathing. Diagnosis: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD. It’s a progressive impairment of lung function, and it’s the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. The prognosis differs from person to person – some people successfully manage the disease for years, while others cannot.

Mom was in the latter category. Within weeks of the first COPD flareup, her difficulty breathing cost her her independence. She required supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day, and a wheelchair. Her short-term memory clouded. Our roles became reversed as I took charge of her financial affairs and arranged for her medical care. Our activities together narrowed down to my transferring her from bed to wheelchair to destination, and back again.

It was heartbreaking to watch Mom, a former language teacher, losing her innate talent to relate to people. Her grandchildren never knew Mom as the vivacious, energetic person she had once been. While she received excellent medical care at the end of her life, nothing could replace her lost health. Mom died in 2004. I often dream of her as she was when she was healthy. I hold onto that memory, and only wish my niece and nephew could have seen her that way, too.

Any smoker who is not afraid of cancer should spend a few hours with someone with advanced COPD to see what it does, not only to the person with COPD but to their family as well. For individuals who can manage their illness, doing so can become the equivalent of a fulltime job. For individuals who cannot, the cost of care and the emotional toll on family members can be astronomical. Increased awareness of what COPD does – before it’s too late -- could and should keep our young people from starting to smoke, and could be one of the most important lessons grandparents can teach their children and grandchildren.

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As of 2001, about 10 million people had been diagnosed with COPD, but an estimated 14 million people may have it but have not been diagnosed.

The American Lung Association cites that smoking causes 80 to 90 percent of COPD cases. The National Institutes of Health predicts that 15 to 20 percent of long-term smokers will develop COPD.

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