My Family is My Reason: Louisiana Must Double Down on Lung Cancer Screening and Tobacco Control
Two of my aunts, both of my mother’s sisters, were diagnosed with lung cancer. One is a survivor; the other died from it. An unfathomable loss that devastated our family. Those losses while personal, are also now practical: my family history —coupled with years of living in a place where lung cancer is far too common — puts me in a lifelong conversation about screening and prevention, both for my mother, myself and my daughter. These painful losses are why my mother is eligible for low-dose CT screening—an annual encounter where we await her results with a mix of gratitude, fear, and resolve, and why I too will be screened according to the recommendations.
The good news is that we are no longer defenseless against lung cancer. Over the last decade the evidence has crystallized around screening with low-dose CT (LDCT) for people at higher risk. Randomized trials and large studies show that LDCT screening can detect cancer earlier and reduce deaths from lung cancer — with some LDCT trials reporting 20% reduction in lung-cancer mortality for high-risk populations. Early detection matters because when lung cancer is found at an early stage, the chances for successful treatment — including surgery — are far higher. It’s why I still have one living aunt, which I am filled with gratitude for daily.
Screening guidance has also evolved to be more inclusive, a critical issue facing our state’s diverse communities—from age, to geography, to race and health behaviors. Recommendations now commonly identify adults aged 50–80, with a smoking history of roughly one pack a day for 20 years, as candidates for annual screening, expanding access to people who were previously excluded under narrower criteria. And these shift matters: they create the potential to catch cancers earlier in groups who, historically, were either not recognized as high-risk or faced barriers to care.
Why this matters in Louisiana cannot be overstated. State-level reports consistently place Louisiana among the worst in the nation for lung cancer outcomes — high incidence, low early detection rates, and survival that lags national averages. In short: more people are getting lung cancer here, and fewer are being diagnosed early enough for the best treatment outcomes. That combination is lethal, and more importantly preventable! Improving screening uptake and early diagnosis in Louisiana would not be an abstract public-health win; it would mean real lives saved in our neighborhoods and, in our families.
I remember attending the Cancer Moonshot announcement event at the White House — an initiative that was relaunched with fresh momentum in 2022 only months after my aunt’s passing. Her memory, and my survivor aunt, were with me in spirit every moment of the day as we discussed important strategies to continue to speed progress in prevention, early detection, and equitable care. The Moonshot’s goals are concrete and ambitious: accelerate research, reduce barriers to screening and treatment, and mobilize coordinated action across agencies and partners to make a decade of progress in a shorter time. For advocates and clinicians, that kind of national attention translates into funding streams, technical support, and the political will to scale what works — including lung cancer screening and tobacco control.
But screening and high-profile summits are only part of the solution. Tobacco use remains the single greatest driver of lung cancer: smoking — and secondhand smoke — cause roughly 80–90% of U.S. lung cancer deaths. That statistic tells us where to focus prevention resources. Effective tobacco control from cessation programs and Quitline’s to policies that reduce access and appeal, are still our most powerful upstream intervention efforts. Pairing strong tobacco control with expanded screening creates a two-pronged approach, prevent new cancers while catching existing ones earlier.
Louisiana’s path forward needs to be deliberate and equitable. Screening programs must be community-centered: easy to access in rural parishes, coordinated with primary care and cessation services, and sensitive to the financial and logistical barriers that keep people from showing up. The National Cancer Institute and other partners emphasize that screening should be embedded within smoking cessation support. Screening should not be a standalone checkbox but part of a care pathway that offers real options for quitting, follow-up diagnostics, and timely, life-saving treatment when needed.
On a personal level, I know the first time I am eligible to be screened, I will do it with my aunt’s presence beside me, using everything tobacco prevention, science and health care has given me to tilt the odds. On a population level, I will work professionally to scale what we know works — evidence-based screening, robust tobacco control, and integrated care pathways that will move Louisiana from among the worst to among the best in cancer prevention and outcomes. We have national commitment, and state commitment through the Louisiana Cancer Research Center and its many partners, and now our work is to build on that momentum in local communities, clinics, schools and more to save our family and neighbors’ lives.
If you have smoked or used to smoke, if you have a family history of lung cancer, or if you live in a community where lung cancer rates are high, talk to your clinician about whether LDCT screening is right for you. And for those of us who care about Louisiana, let’s push for programs that meet people where they are: offering screening that’s affordable and accessible, tobacco prevention and cessation services that work, keeping prevention front and center. That’s how we honor those we’ve lost — and how we give the living a better future.