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1 year ago
23
Pix11 news anchor Kaity Tong revealed on social media that she has been diagnosed with lung cancer, despite being a lifelong nonsmoker.
The surprising revelation came shortly after Big Bang Theory star Kate Micucci shared her recovery journey on TikTok following a similar diagnosis.
Tong, the 76-year-old Emmy Award-winning television news anchor, candidly shared her stage-one lung cancer diagnosis on social media Saturday.
She urged her followers to consult with doctors and undergo routine chest tests, given the increasing prevalence of the disease.
'I was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. Me, a nonsmoker my entire life,' she wrote on Instagram.
'The doctors told me this diagnosis is increasingly common among Asians, especially women, who are nonsmokers. That would be me. And maybe that’s YOU.'
Pix11 news anchor Kaity Tong, 76, revealed on social media that she has been diagnosed with lung cancer , despite being a lifelong nonsmoker
Tong has been a popular television news anchor since the 1980s at WABC and at the WPIX, where she co-anchored Channel 11 for nearly 20 years
Tong has been a popular television news anchor since the 1980s at WABC and at the WPIX, where she co-anchored Channel 11 for nearly 20 years.
Sharing details about her initial diagnosis, the 76-year-old news anchor emphasized the rising prevalence of the disease among Asian female nonsmokers and encouraged her followers to get regular chest examinations.
'If you fit this profile I urge you to talk with your doctor and determine whether you should get tested, even if you don’t have symptoms. It was through a routine chest X-ray after an especially bad cold that my cancer was detected,' she wrote.
'I was lucky. Stage One. So the cancer was found before it had a chance to spread. I had robotic surgery to remove the tumor. I am now recovering at home.
'It’s been a slow but steady recovery. Mainly to restore my breathing to normal and to help the rest of my lungs compensate for the loss of one lobe.'
The Emmy Award-winning television news anchor candidly shared her stage-one lung cancer diagnosis on social media Saturday
Tong said she has been off the air from Pix11 news for a few weeks and expressed her hope to return by mid-January.
'Dr. Isbell tells me I am now cancer-free. No chemo or radiation needed. And a very low chance of recurrence.
'If my journey encourages even one person who fits this profile to get a checkup leading to early detection, I will be grateful,' she wrote.
The surprising disclosure came days after Micucci, the 43-year-old actress known for her role in the Big Bang Theory spanning eight episodes from 2013 to 2017, revealed a similar diagnosis.
Sharing details about her initial diagnosis, the 76-year-old news anchor emphasized the rising prevalence of the disease among Asian female nonsmokers and encouraged her followers to get regular chest examinations
The surprising revelation came shortly after Big Bang Theory star Kate Micucci shared her recovery journey on TikTok following a similar diagnosis
The surprising disclosure came days after Micucci, the 43-year-old actress known for her role in the Big Bang Theory spanning eight episodes from 2013 to 2017, revealed a similar diagnosis
Micucci, who like Tong, is a non-smoker, took to TikTok last week to document her recovery after a successful surgery to remove lung cancer.
While lying in a hospital bed attached to a drip, she said: 'Hey everybody, this is not a TikTok, it's a Sick Tok.
'I’m in the hospital but it’s because I had lung cancer surgery yesterday. They caught it really early.”
'It’s really weird, because I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life so uh, you know, it was a surprise. But also I guess, also, it happens and so the greatest news is they caught it early, they got it out, I’m all good.
'It’s been a little bit of a trip and [I’ll] probably be moving slow for a few weeks but then I’ll be back at it.'
Revealing how she was first diagnosed, she said: 'I had one thing in my bloodwork that came back really high.
'So I went to a preventative doc who did a few scans. He scanned my heart and that’s where the spot in my lung was noticed.'
The actress, who played Raj's (Kunal Nayyar) love interest Lucy in the show in eight episodes between 2013-2017, took to TikTok to document her recovery after a successful surgery to remove the disease
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the US. It is detected using a low-dose computed tomography scan (CT scan).
One in six people will be diagnosed with lung cancer in their lifetime, and more than 127,000 lives are lost annually.
A recent report by the ACS found that young women are suffering higher rates of lung cancer than men.
Men were nearly twice as likely as women to develop the disease in the 1980s, driven by higher smoking rates and workplace exposure to substances like asbestos.
But with declining cigarette use and safety regulations, the pattern has flipped, with young and middle-aged women now being diagnosed with the disease at higher rates than men.
There were around 65 new cases of lung cancer for every 100,000 people in 1992 and by 2019 this had come down to about 42.
WHAT IS LUNG CANCER?
Lung cancer is one of the most common and serious types of cancer.
Around 47,000 people are diagnosed with the condition every year in the UK.
There are usually no signs or symptoms in the early stages of lung cancer, but many people with the condition eventually develop symptoms including:
- a persistent cough
- coughing up blood
- persistent breathlessness
- unexplained tiredness and weight loss
- an ache or pain when breathing or coughing
You should see a GP if you have these symptoms.
Types of lung cancer
There are two main forms of primary lung cancer.
These are classified by the type of cells in which the cancer starts growing.
They are:
- Non-small-cell lung cancer. The most common form, accounting for more than 87 per cent of cases.
- It can be one of three types: squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma or large-cell carcinoma.
- Small-cell lung cancer – a less common form that usually spreads faster than non-small-cell lung cancer.
- The type of lung cancer you have determines which treatments are recommended.
Who's affected
Lung cancer mainly affects older people. It's rare in people younger than 40.
More than four out of 10 people diagnosed with lung cancer in the UK are aged 75 and older.
Although people who have never smoked can develop lung cancer, smoking is the most common cause (accounting for about 72 per cent of cases).
This is because smoking involves regularly inhaling a number of different toxic substances.
Treating lung cancer
Treatment depends on the type of mutation the cancer has, how far it's spread and how good your general health is.
If the condition is diagnosed early and the cancerous cells are confined to a small area, surgery to remove the affected area of lung may be recommended.
If surgery is unsuitable due to your general health, radiotherapy to destroy the cancerous cells may be recommended instead.
If the cancer has spread too far for surgery or radiotherapy to be effective, chemotherapy is usually used.
There are also a number of medicines known as targeted therapies.
They target a specific change in or around the cancer cells that is helping them to grow.
Targeted therapies cannot cure lung cancer but they can slow its spread.
Source: NHS
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