Fighting Lung Cancer Can Be Scary

For patients with lung cancer, every day can be a fight for survival. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death for both men and women in the United States--according to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 160,390 deaths and 218,890 new diagnoses were estimated for 2007.

Martin Memorial's Lung Cancer Navigator Program Can Help

That's why Martin Memorial created the lung cancer navigator program at the Robert and Carol Weissman Cancer Center. The program is overseen by Lindsay Mattino, a registered nurse, and Paulette Craft, a clinical oncology social worker.

Together, they provide access to numerous resources for patients diagnosed with lung cancer. That can include anything from seeking financial assistance to enrollment in available cancer trials, to simply helping them cope with their diagnoses one-on-one or through support groups.

How to Get Help

Patients are often referred through a physician but can contact the navigator team directly. They will receive an assessment of their condition, determine what their needs are and work with the navigator team to create a plan to help them through the treatment process.

"This is a mission for me," Mattino says. "I'm helping a population that really needs help."

Lung Cancer Resources More Challenging to Find

The lung cancer program is being modeled after Martin Memorial's breast health navigator, which began in 2005 and has proven invaluable to numerous breast cancer patients.

One difference, Mattino says, is the number of resources available for lung cancer compared to breast cancer. Awareness, fund-raising for research, and community support are often much higher for breast cancer than lung cancer. Part of that may be a result of social stigma--because 80 percent of lung cancers are caused by smoking, some view it as a self-inflicted disease.

At the same time, there is no common screening tool for lung cancer (such as mammograms or colonoscopies for breast and colon cancers) that can help detect the disease in earlier stages when it might be more treatable. Often, lung cancers aren't discovered until they are stage III or IV tumors and have spread to other locations.

"We want to help people find ways to fight this disease," Mattino says. "Nobody deserves to have cancer."

Contact Us

Lindsay Mattino, RN
Paulette Craft
Robert and Carol Weissman Cancer Center
501 E. Osceola St.
Stuart, FL 34994
(772) 223-5945, ext. 1669