Meeri Kim in The Washington Post:
Bryant Lin’s persistent, hacking cough had lasted for six weeks, with no sign of improvement. As a clinical professor and primary care physician at Stanford University, he tried the usual treatments for allergies, asthma and reflux before finally going to his doctor for an X-ray. Only days later, and less than a month before his 50th birthday, he learned he had Stage 4 lung cancer — a disease considered incurable, if not terminal. Lin had never smoked a cigarette in his life. “Definitely a shock,” he recounted this month. At the time of his diagnosis in spring 2024, the cancer had already spread to his liver, bones and brain. Ironically, he had recently co-founded the Stanford Center for Asian Health Research and Education (CARE), devoted to diseases that disproportionately affect Asian communities. Among them: never-smoker lung cancer. “I was diagnosed with the same disease that our center was supporting,” he said.
While cigarette smoking is still the primary risk factor for lung cancer, a growing proportion of patients with the disease are nonsmokers like Lin. Last week, Pope Leo had part of his right lung removed because of adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer. He is not known to have ever lit up.