HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Hundreds of thousands of Americans will receive a lung cancer diagnosis this year.
Alabama’s five-year survival rate is trailing the rest of the county. 21.3% of lung cancer patients survive five years past their diagnosis compared to the national average of 26.6%, according to the American Lung Association.
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Though often associated with a lifelong smoking habit, many non-smokers are diagnosed with lung cancer.
“They suspected lung cancer,” said lung cancer awareness advocate Matthew Koebbe. “We did a biopsy, and confirmed that, yes, it was lung cancer.”
Koebbe was diagnosed with non-smokers lung cancer in 2018. He said the cancer was identified by accident, found by his doctors while he was being monitored for another condition.
“They removed my upper right lobe, a lobectomy, but they missed a few cells, so I had 33 rounds of radiation,” Koebbe said. “It also had spread to a lymphoid, so I had four rounds of chemo as well.”