Lung cancer and woman

My mom, Ruth Miller, died of lung cancer at the age of 51. I was 19.

Mom started smoking when she was a teenager. She used to steal cigarettes from one of her eight brothers and sisters (they all smoked), then go hide in the bushes behind her house.

She quit for good in her late 30s. By then she had five kids, with another yet to come, and money was tight. She started to play tennis, but she was always fired and an occasional cough became a daily event. A decade later, after a series of tests, the . doctors diagnosed lung cancer in December 1982.

Within the next year, the cancer spread to her bones, and she became even sicker. I was away at college, but I called Mom and told her I was coming home.

For the next six months, I was with her every day. It was my turn to mother. I cooked and cleaned, made sure Mom took all her medicine, and read to her when she was fired. I remember unwrapping rosary beads from her thin, bony hands at night after she fell asleep. Her biggest regret was leaving behind an 8-year-old son.

Mom died on a sunny Sunday afternoon in June 1984. My dad and all my sisters were around her bed, and I was holding her when she took her last breath.

Today, as a mother myself, I cannot imagine Mom's pain of leaving her family at such a young age. For me, it's past the time to talk about this deadly disease. There are some things you really need to know.

Smoking--risky business

One out of every four women dying of cancer today has lung cancer. But lung cancer did not become the leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women overnight. Women did not smoke in significant numbers until the 1930s and 1940s when they were targeted by tobacco manufacturers. Lucky Strike cigarettes saw a 312 percent increase in sales as a result of its "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet" advertising campaign, forever establishing the connection between smoking and slimness. By 1959, 27 percent of women smoked regularly as did 48 percent of men. Currently, 22 percent of women smoke compared to 26 percent of men.

Data suggest that women who smoke cigarettes may be twice as likely to develop lung cancer as their male counterparts. A gene that fuels lung cancer growth is more active in women than men, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Teens light up

The message that smoking can kill you is not getting through to a number of teenagers. In 2000, 30 percent of high school senior girls and 33 percent of boys reported smoking within the last month. The younger teens are when they start smoking, the worse off they may be in the future. If you don't smoke by age 18 or 19, chances are you won't be a lifelong smoker, says Diane Stover, M.D., chief of pulmonary services and head of general medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Quitting is tough but worth it

Women who smoke may have a more difficult time quitting than men, according to the National Institutes of Health. Among the reasons: a woman's menstrual cycle can worsen withdrawal symptoms, and women fear gaining weight.

Unfortunately cigarettes do help reduce weight, says addiction expert Dorothy Hatsukami, Ph.D., a psychiatry professor at the University of Minnesota. Nicotine--one of the ingredients found in tobacco--somehow accelerates a person's metabolism so a smoker burns more calories than a nonsmoker when engaged in an activity.

Quitting is also hard because nicotine is a highly addictive drug. Nicotine is as addictive as cocaine and heroin; the faster a drug is delivered to the brain, the more addicting it is--and nicotine can get into a person's brain within seconds of being inhaled, says Hatsukami.

People who stop smoking, even well into middle age, can lower their risk of lung cancer, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal. The study found that women who continued to smoke at age 75 had a 10 percent chance of getting lung cancer, but the risk for women at 75 who had stopped at age 60 dropped to 5 percent. The risk dropped to 2 percent if a woman had quit at age 50. The risk was even lower for women who stopped earlier in life.

If you can't quit cold turkey, talk to your doctor about nicotine patches, gum, or the antidepressant Zyban, says Virginia Ernster, Ph.D., a professor of epidemiology at the University of California.

Early detection is key

Only 15 percent of lung cancer cases are diagnosed in the early stages. But catching the disease before it spreads can increase a person's survival. See your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms:.

* A cough that does not go away.

* Chest pain, often made worse by deep breathing.

* Hoarseness.

* Weight loss and loss of appetite.

* Bloody or rust-colored matter, such as saliva, mucus, or phlegm, that you cough up.

* Shortness of breath.

* Unexplained fatigue.

* Recurring infections, such as bronchitis and pneumonia.

COMPARED to nonsmokers, women who smoke:

* Have an increased risk of lung, mouth, kidney, bladder, esophagus, cervical, and pancreatic cancer.

* Start menopause an average two years earlier than they would if they did not smoke.

* Have a greater chance of having a stroke.

* Get more facial wrinkles.

* Are more likely to be diagnosed with osteoporosis.

* Experience more fertility problems.

* Are more likely to become depressed.

* Face an increased risk for cataracts and age-related macular degeneration.

Martha Miller, former health editor of Better Homes and Gardens[R], is a freelance writer.