Two Never-Smokers. Two Diagnoses. Stage I vs. Stage IV. The Difference Was One CEA Blood Test.
The absence of screening for never-smokers represents a critical blind spot in lung cancer care.

Help me close this gap in lung cancer detection. This is not a fight for me—it is a fight for all of us. A fight to find cancer at Stage I instead of Stage IV.

This Is My Story
From September 2022 to May 2024, I was treated for what doctors believed was Ménière’s disease. Nearly two years later, I learned the devastating truth: it was lung cancer all along, now stage IV.

During those two years, I was never evaluated with blood-based biomarkers that might have provided another signal that something was wrong. The reason? I was considered low risk because I had never smoked.

Never-smokers are not routinely screened for lung cancer.

My neurosurgeon later told me that she sees this pattern too often—patients whose symptoms are attributed Menieres disease, only to discover later that cancer mimics those symptoms.

I spent 18 days in the hospital fighting for my life. During those days, I made myself a promise: if I survived, I would fight with everything I had to help others find it at stage I instead. I am here today because I survived. And now I am fighting for earlier detection.

Could a Blood Test Have Been a Warning Sign?
Could a combination of biomarkers including Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) tell us who needs a low dose CT or further screening?

CEA is not a diagnostic test for lung cancer. It is not sensitive enough to be used as a stand-alone screening test. In a study in South-Asia it was found to have 98% specificity and 57% sensitivity.  What is the probability that an otherwise healthy never-smoker with an elevated CEA actually has cancer?. If I take a healthy never-smoker with no known disease and his CEA is elevated, what is the probability that there is an occult cancer somewhere in his body?. Could serial CEA testing identify an otherwise healthy never-smoker who is developing cancer early enough to investigate and potentially detect it at Stage I? We don't know because we don't have such a longitudinal study on never-smokers. In healthy never-smokers, does a persistent elevation or rising CEA trajectory predict an occult cancer before conventional diagnosis? This would be good to know. It would be useful to have a baseline and a trajectory of the CEA values for healthy never-smoker's, but we simply never test the never smokers. 

CEA is a $25–$40 blood test that could provide information that prompts a physician to investigate further. The goal is to recognize when the body may be sending a warning signal—and not ignore it simply because that signal is elevated in smokers. Let's test the healthy non-smokers. An elevated CEA on these population could have many explanations, including cancers other than lung cancer. That is precisely why it should trigger investigation, not an automatic diagnosis.

Why discard potentially valuable information simply because it isn't perfectly specific? Life insurance companies do use elevated CEA levels as a variable to stratify who gets coverage and who doesn't.

The Gap in Early Detection

Today, about half of all people diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States would not have qualified for screening under current guidelines.
Only a minority of lung cancers are diagnosed at Stage I.

Among never-smokers, the problem is particularly concerning: a substantial proportion are diagnosed only after the disease has become advanced.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in the United States and worldwide. Yet our primary lung-cancer screening strategy is largely built around smoking history. That leaves an enormous population of never-smokers without an established pathway for early detection.

We cannot continue defining "low risk" solely by whether someone has ever smoked.

The biology of lung cancer is changing. The demographics are changing. Our approach to detection needs to change with them.

A Different Approach to Screening
I am not calling for CT scans for every person. I am calling for research.

We need large, prospective studies in healthy never-smokers to determine whether biomarkers such as CEA—or combinations of biomarkers—can identify individuals who would benefit from further evaluation, including low-dose CT.

Imagine a pathway like this:

Blood biomarker → risk assessment → appropriate imaging → earlier diagnosis → Stage I instead of Stage IV.

We do this successfully in other areas of medicine. We use mammography, cervical cancer screening, colorectal cancer screening, and prostate-related testing to identify people who may need further evaluation.

Why shouldn't we research a similar risk-based pathway for never-smokers and lung cancer?

A Call to Action
To the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), and policymakers including Senator Alex Padilla:

We need you to fund and support rigorous research into biomarkers for early lung cancer detection in never-smokers.

We need prospective studies that answer a simple but critically important question:

Can biomarkers identify which never-smokers should receive further evaluation with low-dose CT?

Don't dismiss the idea because no single biomarker is perfect.

Study it. Test it. Prove it—or disprove it.

This Is Bigger Than My Story
Lung cancer is often called the silent killer.

But for many patients, there may be signals before the cancer is discovered.

The problem is that we aren't systematically looking for them.

I don't want my experience to become just another story about a late diagnosis. I want it to become a reason we ask better questions. Can biomarkers help identify who needs further investigation? And how many lives could we save if we found the answer?

We are not asking for unnecessary testing.

We are asking for research, transparency, and a willingness to investigate when signals appear.

Because the only way to know whether those signals can save lives… is to look for them.

Join the Movement
Stand with me against the silent killer.

Support research into earlier detection for never-smokers.

Support awareness.
Support transparency.
Support science.

It's a fight for all of us.

Together, we can change outcomes.

Please share this petition.  

Or consider helping  the Lung Cancer Research Association, ANY amount helps.

https://give.lungcancerresearchfoundation.org/team/820050