I lost half of my right lung to cancer. Pope Leo's diagnosis gives me hope

A lung cancer survivor compares her stage 1B diagnosis and surgery to papillary adenocarcinoma and calls for more extensive screening of smokers.

A pulmonologist weighs in on Pap Leo lung cancer surgery, diagnosis

Reassurance came quickly when Pope Leo told the crowd in St. Peter's Square on Sunday that doctors had found "a small, localized nodule" in his lung. Media medical experts were quick to say that most nodules are benign. Probably nothing to worry about.

Not long ago, I heard the same assurance about my own lungs. They were wrong then, and on Tuesday the Vatican confirmed that they are wrong now. The nodule was adenocarcinoma, lung cancer. Surgeons removed the lower lobe of the father's right lung through several small incisions, guided by a camera instead of an open chest, and he returned to his room that afternoon.

Pope Leo was diagnosed with lung cancer after surgeons removed part of his right lung, the Vatican says.

This is exactly what happened to me. Half of my right lung was removed just 12 months ago and I was running just four weeks after that. So, my first reaction when I heard the pap diagnosis was not horror. There was hope

I was 43 years old, a mother of four, a daily runner, and the daughter of a lung doctor. The morning I found out I had lung cancer, I had completed a six-mile run without noticing that anything was wrong. I had no symptoms, according to current guidelines, I was not supposed to be at risk and was not eligible for screening.

The Vatican says Pope Leo will undergo blood tests, X-rays following cancer surgery

My diagnosis was from the scan I chose, not from a symptom. My husband and I have always leaned toward preventive testing, and at his insistence, I scheduled what I assumed would be an initial full-body scan that I would pay for out of pocket. It showed a 3.8 cm nodule on my right lung. The initial recommendations of the study radiologist are recommended to be followed up in case of symptoms. But having a father who is a lung doctor and a friend who is a lung radiologist, they pressured me to follow up sooner. A new low-dose CT-CT of my chest showed that the mass had grown in just two months. But the scan led to a diagnosis of stage 1B lung cancer and, like a pap, surgery to remove it. However, no symptoms ever appeared.

Four weeks until the day after my surgery, I was on a plane. Within a few weeks I was running again. Lung cancer caught early and cared for by a skilled medical team and a surgeon who does this every day is not a death sentence. It is a survivable disease, a fixable problem. If the Pope continues his November trip to South America, he will be on that plane as long as I have been away from surgery.

Dr. Mark Siegel: Pope Leo's lung surgery puts modern medicine on the side of faith

So the darkness I see this week in my text threads with Catholic friends is misplaced. What should worry Americans is something else. Pap cancer was found during a routine examination. Mine was found because I paid for a scan that no one recommended. Most Americans get neither.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States and one of the most expensive cancers to treat because it is usually found late.Current guidelines recommend screening only for adults aged 50 to 80 with a history of heavy smoking. Fewer than one in five people who are eligible get the scan. And nearly two-thirds of people diagnosed with lung cancer don't qualify at all. I am one of them.

Pope Leo's lung tumor raises questions about cancer risk for non-smokers

Stage of diagnosis is the strongest predictor of survival and cost. In the first stage, the five-year survival can be more than 90%. However, most cases are still found after the disease has spread, when curative treatment becomes unlikely.

There is a repair on the table. The Saving Health by Identifying Risks for Americans Act (SHIRA), a draft bill now circulating in the White House, HHS and Congress, would make lung cancer screening free for Medicare patients—no deductibles, no deductibles. It insures veterans exposed to burn pits, guarantees the first scan for cancer survivors and those with a family history, and requires Medicare to modernize those considered "high risk" so that never-smokers, like me, are not invisible. This paves the way for age-based screening after age 40, the way we currently screen for breast and colorectal cancer.

I was lucky. A preventive scan, a constant friend and father, and an early diagnosis gave me a future I might not have had otherwise. Pope was also lucky: a routine checkup found his cancer before he felt anything. Luck should not decide who survives lung cancer. Screening policy

I am praying for the Pope this week and I am sure. I would like every American to have the same reason for his confidence.

Shira Cooperman Buller is a lung cancer survivor, mother of four, and author of A Scan Saved My Life: How One Woman's Story Will Change the Way Lung Cancer Is Diagnosed.

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