FITNESS recently chatted with country star Kellie Pickler about a cause she says is near and dear to her heart: lung cancer.
By Lisa Haney, Fitness Magazine
"My grandmother, who had a big part in raising me, was diagnosed with lung cancer when I was 15," Kellie says. "She passed away the very next day after being diagnosed, so it was really quick and shocking."
Even more surprising, Kellie says, is what she has learned about the disease since then. "I was shocked mostly about the fact that lung cancer is the number-one cancer killer for women—even more than breast cancer," Kellie says. She partnered up with the American Lung Association's movement, Lung Force, to help educate women about the disease, including these important facts:
"My grandmother, who had a big part in raising me, was diagnosed with lung cancer when I was 15," Kellie says. "She passed away the very next day after being diagnosed, so it was really quick and shocking."
Even more surprising, Kellie says, is what she has learned about the disease since then. "I was shocked mostly about the fact that lung cancer is the number-one cancer killer for women—even more than breast cancer," Kellie says. She partnered up with the American Lung Association's movement, Lung Force, to help educate women about the disease, including these important facts:
- Although lung cancer is the number-one cancer killer of women, only 1 percent of women say lung cancer is top-of-mind for them, according to a recent survey.
- You don't need to be a smoker to get lung cancer! If you have lungs, you can get lung cancer. Check out the FITNESS report on lung cancer in fit, nonsmoking women for more.
- Less than half of all women diagnosed with lung cancer are still alive more than one year after diagnosis. And the five-year survival rate is only 18 percent.
