LUFKIN, TX (KTRE) -
Lung cancer awareness month is recognized
every November. As one Livingston woman fights lung cancer, she wants to encourage
others during their battle.
Brenda Wileman was
diagnosed with lung cancer a few months ago. She is overcoming this battle one chemotherapy session at
a time and wants others to be encouraged during their fight with the deadliest
type of cancer.
"The best
thing is to have lots of faith in God," Wileman said. "I think that's the
biggest thing. Just laugh as much as you can, think positive. Every time you
seem to think negative if you just walk outside, look around at things like the
sky, the birds, and the plants. I think with this illness everything has taken
on such a vivid color. It's just beautiful, and we don't stop long enough to
really look at it."
Lung cancer
is the most deadly form of the disease. It's also the most common.
Dr.
Mohammad Siddiqui, a Memorial Health Systems of East Texas pulmonologist, said.
"It is the leading cause of death in the United States. More people die of
lung cancer than breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer
combined."
When Wileman was first diagnosed with lung cancer a few months ago, she was told that she would have to go through 35 treatments of radiation and seven weeks of chemotherapy, something she was opposed to because her sister died of lung cancer three years ago. However, she had a change of heart.
"I
just sat down kind of like a stubborn mule in that chair, and my daughter said I'm not going to tell you to go, but I'm not going to tell you not to go," Wileman said. " She said, 'Now, you sit there a little while and think about it,' and I
felt very selfish for not wanting to live."
Siddiqui
wants you to know that like any other cancer, many lives can be saved with the
help of awareness of lung cancer.
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