Jumping Into Online Lung Cancer Communities

Being a lung cancer survivor, I have chosen to face my stage 4 lung diagnosis. I have considered my online community groups as my extended family. They are walking the same path and can relate to what I am going through. The groups stand for the same purpose to encourage one another, spread awareness, and raise funds for research.

Different online community groups

Through social media, there is no problem staying connected with others especially with fellow lung cancer groups. Facebook is the commonly used platform followed by Twitter and Instagram. I find belonging to the same flock of survivors lifts your spirits up and helps find a more complete understanding of the realm of living with lung cancer. In these groups, I have a chance to laugh, love, and mourn.

Free online lung cancer education

It is overwhelming to see how much selection of information patients can access free of charge. With the advances in information technology, I can be educated with just a click of my mouse or on my phone. I can listen to podcasts or attend webinars about lung cancer treatment and research. Most of the experts emphasize control rather than cure which I totally agree with. Fellow community members constantly share and exchange information and experiences. Hence, I can learn how to survive and live with my illness.

Meeting a fellow survivor and advocate

One of my husband’s colleagues is a lung cancer survivor. She was more than five years from her diagnosis when I read about her touching journey. Most of her impressive pieces were published and featured by LungCancer.net. Since then I have been an avid reader of her featured write-ups as a community advocate. She even introduced me to raise funds for lung cancer research. Teaming up with her was a good contribution during the lung cancer awareness month.

Community patient stories

Patient stories are constantly published and they are effortlessly reachable through different online lung cancer communities. I personally love reading them. They are part of my daily routine. It is amazing to know years of survival are more common with the advances in treatment available. I am grateful to all the lung cancer researchers for their unwavering passion to give better lives to lung cancer patients.

Follow an online community group

LungCancer.net is one of the finest and leading online communities of professionals and patients in my opinion. Having been their social media follower, I was finally driven to submit my own stories with a brave content mission of giving hope to the world of lung cancer. Many thanks to the people who are running LungCancer.net behind-the-scenes. I am so honored and happy to be a current community advocate with a purpose to bring more interesting and relevant contributions to this community.

My hope for the future

I hope the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines will end the pandemic soon so gathering will be permitted again. I'm hoping more restrictions will be lifted so virtual meetings or connections with fellow lung cancer survivors will be in-person meetings soon.