Lung cancer continues to be portrayed as a self-induced cancer that does not deserve public research funding.

We are very excited about getting this grant without having had too much real exposure to breast cancer research.

If we can raise a quarter of a million dollars for cancer research that would be excellent.

This issue is extremely complicated and cannot be resolved unless all parties -- the medical community, the regulatory agencies, the drug development and research communities, and patient advocates -- are willing to work together creatively and constructively to address the needs of dying patients.

This is more of a political problem than a science problem right now. Without the ability to develop grassroots voices and pressures to put on public health leaders, we continue to see lung cancer as the most lethal of all cancers.

Sadly, it takes her death, coming just seven months after diagnosis, and the fact that she had never smoked, to let the public see the real picture of lung cancer.