We have talked about the increasing incidence of lung cancer among female Asian American nonsmokers, but male Asian American doctor and Stanford professor Bryant Lin tells about his lung cancer story in a class called “From Diagnosis to Dialogue: A Doctor’s Real-Time Battle with Cancer.” Despite never smoking in his life, Lin experienced a worsening cough and after an X-Ray and a CT Scan, was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. Lin was one of the founders of the Stanford Center for Asian Health Research and Education (CARE),which ironically has research and education on never smoker lung cancer as a priority.
It turns out that Asian ancestry is a major risk factor for never smoker lung cancer because of the higher likelihood of having a mutation to the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein. The type of lung cancer that nonsmokers tend to get, called adenocarcinoma has stayed high while other types of lung cancer has declined. I am reminded of another Asian American doctor who also had EGFR related lung cancer, Paul Kalanithi, who wrote the book When Breath Becomes Air.
The Wife and I keep running into nonsmoking Asian Americans who are getting lung cancer. We talked to one family friend who found that she had lung cancer when she had a scan to look for plaque in her arteries, and the radiologist noticed a spot in her lungs. She had stage 1 lung cancer, which is more easily curable (she had the small tumor removed). Bryant Lin is not so lucky. His lung cancer had spread all over his body, including over 50 spots in his brain. While there are drugs can the can improve his life, his oncologist says that they won’t work forever. Research is underway to understand the best screening guidelines for lung cancer.