Dispelling Myths and Raising Awareness of Lung Cancer Risk

Leah Phillips, co-founder of the Young Lung Cancer Initiative, had her life profoundly altered when she was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer driven by an EGFR exon 19 mutation. A never-smoker, Leah had no traditional risk factors and initially believed her diagnosis must have been a mistake. This experience has fueled her advocacy, as she seeks to dispel the misconception that lung cancer only affects smokers or older adults.

“If you have lungs, you can develop lung cancer,” she emphasized in an interview with CURE during the 2025 IASCLC World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC).

During the interview, Leah discusses the importance of awareness, encouraging both the public and medical community to recognize persistent symptoms that may signal an underlying condition requiring further evaluation 

Transcript

As a never-smoker, what do you wish more people understood about who can be affected by lung cancer?

Honestly, people need to realize that if you have lungs, you can get lung cancer. When I was diagnosed, I was living in Kentucky, a tobacco state where I am from. My grandparents smoked from the time they were 12. That's just because they were tobacco farmers, and that's what they did. It was such a normal thing in our society. My parents did not smoke, and I never smoked, but everybody I knew who ever had lung cancer had been a smoker and was older.

When I was first diagnosed, and they knew it was malignant cancer, they were trying to figure out where it was coming from. When it came back as lung cancer, I thought they were in the wrong room because they had led me to believe it was going to be breast, colon, or ovarian cancer given my health status, my age, and so on.

I think that is my big mission: letting others know that you can get lung cancer even if you don't have risk factors. In my prior life as a teacher, I wasn't working around harsh chemicals, and we don't live in an old home. It was just really surreal to get that information and process how this could happen.

That's the biggest point and what's been my driving force: to let not only people with lung cancer know this, but also researchers, doctors, and people at large by sharing my story. This way, they can relate and be like, “Oh, so if I have a nagging cough or if I have wheezing, I shouldn't just take it for granted that it's a little cold.”

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.