Recently, in Hubei, China, there has been a case of a 12-year-old boy diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer, causing much concern among many people.
It is known that the boy, Xiao Gia (12 years old, Hubei, China), was suddenly discovered by his mother to have a hard tumor on his rib. Although it didn’t hurt or itch when touched, his mother decided to take him to the hospital for examination. Doctors performed surgery to remove a part of the tumor on Xiao Gia’s rib. The surgical report revealed that the tumor was Sarcoma Ewing – a rare type of cancer that often occurs in children and adolescents.
However, after the surgery, Xiao Gia’s mother remained quite worried and took her son to another hospital for further examination. Eventually, the family was shocked when they received the diagnosis that Xiao Gia had late-stage lung cancer. Due to his young age, the disease had progressed to an advanced stage, with a highly malignant tumor, resulting in an extremely poor prognosis.
Xiao Gia’s mother candidly shared that due to a late pregnancy, both she and her husband had pampered their son over the years:
“Xiao Gia has never had breakfast. For lunch and dinner, only when my husband and I pressured him would he eat half a bowl. My son almost never drinks plain water; he prefers to drink fruit juice, soft drinks when thirsty…”
In addition, Xiao Gia also often had the habit of sitting for long hours in front of a computer playing electronic games, secretly using a phone when his parents went to sleep at night. It was these habits of staying up late and unhealthy living that caused Xiao Gia, at only 12 years old, to develop late-stage lung cancer.
The treating doctor at the Hubei Provincial Cancer Hospital stated that lung cancer has the highest incidence and mortality rates among malignant tumors. The doctor also mentioned that Xiao Gia’s case was the youngest patient he had encountered in his years of practice. In reality, the boy’s current condition is quite critical.
Regarding the causes of the disease, the doctor once again confirmed that factors such as smoking or passive smoking, environmental pollution, and unhealthy lifestyle habits all contribute to the increased risk of lung cancer. Especially for young people, unhealthy habits such as an imbalanced diet, improper work and rest, mental stress… can be the leading causes of the illness.
At the same time, the doctor pointed out some initial symptoms of lung cancer to be aware of, including coughing, back or chest pain… Regular health check-ups can help identify early-stage cancer cells. Early detection and treatment are the most direct ways to increase the survival rate from cancer. Although lung cancer screening cannot prevent the occurrence of cancer, it can reduce mortality by detecting and treating it early.
5 Preventive Measures for Lung Cancer:
- No smoking and avoid secondhand smoke exposure:
According to studies, cigarette smoke is one of the leading causes of lung cancer. Smoking not only harms the lungs but can also damage the brain, throat, taste, blood vessels, and heart… The World Health Organization (WHO) also indicates that exposure to secondhand smoke not only increases the risk of cancer but also the risk of coronary heart disease and death. After putting out the cigarette, residual smoke in the environment can still harm the body.
Research on secondhand smoke indicates that nicotine has a strong surface adhesion ability and reacts chemically with nitrogen oxide, ozone, and other compounds in the air to create stronger new toxic substances such as nitrosamine and other carcinogens. These substances adhere to clothes, furniture… in the family environment. Therefore, quitting smoking both at home and in public places is a health protective behavior not only for oneself but also for family and others.
- Avoid excessive oil smoke inhalation:
Stir-frying, grilling, frying… are common cooking methods but inadvertently produce a large amount of harmful oil smoke. Particularly, this is one of the factors that increase the risk of lung cancer.
If the oil is heated to a certain temperature, cooking oil will decompose and create harmful components to health such as acrolein. Especially, low-quality cooking oils (mostly refined oils) mainly composed of triglycerides are easily broken down into glycerin and fatty acids. After heating at high temperatures, glycerin loses water and oxidizes, releasing toxic substances harmful to the body, especially the lungs.
Therefore, avoid boiling oil at high temperatures, choose high-quality cooking oil. Along with this, improving the ventilation system in the kitchen, designing reasonable windows to create a well-ventilated space, avoiding overly enclosed and small kitchen spaces. If there are no conditions to expand the kitchen space, using a kitchen hood to reduce the impact of oil smoke on health is advisable.
- Self-protection from chemical environments:
Long-term exposure to some heavy metals such as chromium, cadmium, arsenic, diesel engine exhaust, working environments exposed to chemical substances such as metal industry, metallurgy industry, radiation exposure… will increase the risk of lung infection and lung cancer.
If you have to work in hazardous environments, it’s important to enhance body self-protection by wearing protective clothing, masks… at the workplace to prevent excessive contact with cancer-causing substances.
- Regular health check-ups:
Regular health check-ups can identify early-stage cancer cells. Early detection and treatment are the most direct ways to increase the survival rate from cancer. Although lung cancer screening cannot prevent the occurrence of cancer, it can reduce mortality by detecting and treating it early.
- Good living habits:
The World Cancer Research Fund has published large-scale research results in 2007 and 2016 showing that vegetables and fruits are rich in plant chemicals and antioxidants. Consuming enough of these nutrients can prevent the occurrence of lung cancer.
A diet rich in carotenoids, vitamin C as well as antioxidants (vitamin C, b-carotene, a-carotene, b-cryptoxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, and lycopene) can reduce the risk of lung cancer.
At the same time, maintaining good living habits such as regular exercise, a balanced diet, regular work and rest, stress reduction, positive thinking… can help enhance the immune system and reduce the risk of illness.
