November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, when VA shines a spotlight on a deadly disease that affects almost 8,000 Veterans every year. It’s a time to raise awareness, educate and inspire action.
In response to the call to action by the Biden administration’s Cancer Moonshot, VA and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have come together to inspire Veterans to talk to their health care provider about getting screened for lung cancer.
Pictured above, retired Army Col. Bill McArthur, retired astronaut and former director of Safety & Mission Assurance at the Johnson Space Center; and Air Force Veteran Douglas Cross, chat at the Michael E. DeBakey VAMC in Houston.
With over 1 million Veterans potentially eligible to be screened for lung cancer, hear from former astronaut McArthur and Cross, a lung cancer survivor, on the importance of lung cancer screening:
Cancer Moonshot and lung cancer screening
In partnership with the American Cancer Society, National Lung Cancer Round Table, the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer and the American College of Radiology, VA and NASA encourage everyone who may be eligible for lung cancer screening to discuss it with their health care provider.
You may qualify for lung cancer screening if you:
- Are 50 to 80 years old
- Smoke cigarettes now or quit within the past 15 years
- Smoked cigarettes for at least 20 pack-years
A “pack year” is an estimate of how many tobacco products you have smoked in your lifetime. Twenty “pack years” equals smoking one pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years, or two packs of cigarettes a day for 10 years.
Over 110 VHA facilities are participating in National Lung Cancer Screening Day activities Nov. 6-11, the week leading up to Veterans Day.
To schedule a visit with your VA provider to talk about lung cancer screening, visit MyHealtheVet.va.gov.
