Jackson mother raises awareness about lung cancer

“She was crouched in her bed, and she said the world was spinning and I wasn’t even drinking mom.”

When Lynn Sherwood’s daughter Lauren died at the age of 25 from small cell lung cancer, she did what most parents in her shoes do not do: talk about it.

“Shock, disbelief, she kept saying I’m 25 years old. I just got married. I’ve got a three-year-old. I have a job that I love.”

Adventurous as her mothers described her, she had no family history of the disease the only symptom she had was a lingering headache.

“She went to the E.R. They took an MRI of her brain to figure out where her headaches were coming from and they found multiple tumors in her brain.”

She was not what you would consider the face of this disease and because of her age and the fact that she only smoked cigarettes on occasion.

“Almost every patient with lung cancer can attest to this. The first thing that people say is did you smoke?”

According to the LUNGevity Foundation, 1 in 16 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with lung cancer in their lifetime. It’s been leading the cause of cancer among women since 1987 killing almost twice as many women as breast cancer.

“Such a stigma involved and it’s so scary frankly, that people don’t want to talk about it.”

Lynn put worry to work by creating an online community oddly grateful hoping to raise awareness about lung cancer.

“Throughout Laurens cancer journey we worked to find a blessing or a gift every day.”

Part of that blessing is knowing she can help other faced with the same situation.

“One of the ways I was learning I could help other patients and families new to the journey were to summarize all of that information in one place and in layman’s terminology.”

For now, this mom is finding strength in her close relationships with her family will continue her fight forward to spreading awareness.

“I’ve got stories to tell to her daughter as she grows. I’ve got a wedding album to show her baby when she gets married. Some days are really hard, and some days I feel really strong and empowered with an important message to get out.”

To learn more about Oddly Grateful click here.