What are the odds????

mililani · Regular Joined: 18 Jul 2008 Posts: 14

I have a friend whose father recently passed away from lung cancer. Never smoked in his life, lived in Hawaii--so no radon gas, but worked in heavy industrial. That sounds kind of unusual, right? Maybe there was alot of asbestos in the area. But, get this, his wife was just recently diagnosed with lung cancer too! What are the odds?? They don't know what caused her lung cancer, but they think it was because she washed his clothes, and maybe there were asbestos fibers in there. I'm still not convinced.

I've read one other story like that where a Taiwanese couple both developed lung cancer from living in an apartment that had no ventilation for their cooking. They blamed that as the cause of their lung cancer, but i'm not convinced either.

There has to be some other etiology for this. I've recently read several new published papers that have implicated HPV16 in lung cancers. This is highly controversial, since how does one get lung ca from a virus that involves skin contact and remains localized to the area of infection?? Also, there have been several other reports that did not find the same conclusive evidence of HPV16 in lung cancer tumors.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? It's very troubling.

dano · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 3:24 am Post subject: Re: What are the odds????

Hello Mililani;
I also was a non-smoker, from a family without a cancer history and at 53 I have NSCLC IV. not sure what caused it, my work had put me in contact with Asbestos in many forms but not daily. I'm reviewing my history and it is tuff to figure anything absolute. Over 30 yrs of work at multiple employers. The key person in your friends case in the already deceased father, it does not sound like a co-insadence for sure. it is so hard to find a source to causing cancer, takes more time than we have to live and much more money. Keep thinking maybe you can find an answer.
God bless
Dan
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brainman · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 4:28 am Post subject: Re: What are the odds????

mililani, first a question. Do you know the specific type of lung cancer they have? One of our other members, Kristi (simplyklb) has both of her parents with lung cancer right now but one is SCLC and the other is NSCLC. Even then you have to wonder about a common factor connecting the two.

Certainly, environmental factor pop to the forefront in cases like the ones you described. But it is very hard to prove that an environmental factor is involved or just a random event.
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pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 2854

Jim's right -- you figure after years of marriage, both partners have been exposed to many of the same environmental hazards. I've known of a handful of husband/wife lung cancer patients. In the case of asbestos, it's usually mesothelioma and you hit the nail on the head for the family exposure from the workers clothing brought into the house.

Also, lung cancer is the single largest cancer killer in the U.S. and the world. Although it's not talked about much, more than 160,000 people die of lung cancer every year. One in three cancer deaths are from lung cancer. So, the odds are high.

Here are some links for additional info on this sad state of affairs:

http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/washingtonbriefs_2007_fact_sheet.htm

http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/documents/lungcancer_factsheet_2008.pdf
_________________
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Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

mililani · Regular Joined: 18 Jul 2008 Posts: 14

I'm not sure what kind, but I have heard that they have the same exact type of lung cancer. I will go and find out.

There is currently a new etiology that's being studied, and that is HPV16 infections. The study is controversial, but it would make sense in people that have been intimate and together for a long time. Although, how does one get HPV in their lungs?? It doesn't make sense. Some studies have not found HPV in lung tumors, but quite a few foreign studies have. This seems very serious indeed.

In Taiwan, majority of the women who face lung cancers are non-smokers (over 90%!!). Although there may be other carcinogens there, e.g. air pollution, radon, arsenic in the groundwater, it makes on wonder. Why are women now facing increasing rates of lung cancer not related to smoking??

mililani · Regular Joined: 18 Jul 2008 Posts: 14

[quote="dano"]Hello Mililani;
I also was a non-smoker, from a family without a cancer history and at 53 I have NSCLC IV. not sure what caused it, my work had put me in contact with Asbestos in many forms but not daily. I'm reviewing my history and it is tuff to figure anything absolute. Over 30 yrs of work at multiple employers. The key person in your friends case in the already deceased father, it does not sound like a co-insadence for sure. it is so hard to find a source to causing cancer, takes more time than we have to live and much more money. Keep thinking maybe you can find an answer.
God bless
Dan[/quote]

God bless you, Dan. I'm from the Islands too, as you probably already know. Have you had any surgery to remove the tumor? There is a research group at Johns Hopkins that has been studying tumors for high risk HPV infections. They have mainly been looking at head and neck cancers, but they can diagnose any tumor sent:

http://pathology.jhu.edu/labservices/hpv.cfm

Currently, the prognosis is much better for cancers caused by HPV. It might make sense to have them look at it, if it's possible.

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 2854

I've heard wok cooking over high heat as a cause to younger Asian women getting lung cancer. I'm not aware of the HPV issue, but I also do not do much research anymore as, sadly I don't have the need.
_________________
Husband diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IV. (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer) Fought & lived 2 1/2 years with multiple lines of treatment.

Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

simplyklb · Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 8:31 am Post subject: Re: What are the odds????

Both my parents have lung cancer. My dad has SCLC and my mom has NSCLC. They are both former former smokers having quit years ago. My mom quit in Aug. 1990 and my dad in Feb. 1993. It's surreal at times with both the diagnoses at the same time.

Kristi
_________________
Dad - Andy, 70, diagnosed with SCLC in May 2008
2/20/38 - 10/15/08 Fly high, Dad!
Mom - Jackie, 68, diagnosed with NSCLC in May 2008
3/22/41 - 12/30/09 Fly high, Mom!

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