Lysa Buonanno

Lysa was previously an advocate on LungCancer.net.

I am a mom to two great kids and I’m lucky enough to be married to my best friend. After recently graduating from college, at 40 years old, I was diagnosed with lung cancer. It’s not the diagnosis I expected from a lingering back pain. It took me some time to wrap my head around it all, but once I did, I knew I needed to find my new purpose in life. This is when I became an advocate.

I’ve always been outspoken, a little stubborn, and very driven to take action when needed. It turns out that those qualities fit perfectly into the advocacy world. I talk with newly diagnosed patients on a regular basis in hopes of making their journey a little bit easier. I have been living with stage IV lung cancer for over 6 years and I am constantly trying to learn all I can to help myself and others make informed decisions. The lung cancer community is a close family that has definitely been a silver lining for me. I couldn’t do it without them.

Click here to read all of Lysa's articles on LungCancer.net.