\u201cIt was really unfair,\u201d said the mother of two from Huntington, West Virginia. \u201cI do everything I can in my control to take care of myself\u2026 It did not make sense that I had something that was associated with an unhealthy person and unhealthy habits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society.<\/a><\/p>\n Traditionally, this type of cancer is associated with older patients, specifically in men who smoked, said Dr. Iona Baiu, thoracic surgeon at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.<\/p>\n Christy Houvouras, 37, still exercises daily after surgeons removed 20% of her lung to treat her lung cancer.<\/p>\n However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says up to 20% of new diagnoses are now made in people who have never smoked. And they\u2019re mostly occurring in women, Baiu said.<\/p>\n \u201cOverall, the number of lung cancer incidences is slowly decreasing but it\u2019s not decreasing nearly as fast in women as men,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a shift in trends now and seeing patients who are younger and patients who are never smokers, who we never used to see.\u201d<\/p>\n Cancer experts say radon levels in the home, air pollution and genetic mutations are mainly driving this trend.<\/a><\/p>\n Radon is odorless, colorless radioactive gas that forms when radioactive metals \u2013 such as uranium, thorium and radium \u2013 break down in rocks, soil and groundwater, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.<\/a> People are typically exposed to radon through cracks and gaps in buildings and homes.<\/p>\n Christy Houvouras, 37, reads to her son before bedtime in Huntington, West Virginia.<\/p>\n Houvouras suspects she was exposed to radon in her childhood home in Greenville, South Carolina, which the EPA has designated as having the highest potential for elevated indoor radon levels.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe crazy thing about lung cancer is that you can be exposed at a young age and then you won\u2019t have a developing tumor until decades later,\u201d she said. Her diagnosis led Houvouras to install a radon mitigation system in her home to protect her 1-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n Despite being a lung cancer patient, Houvouras still considers herself lucky. Her cancer was caught as stage 1, which meant she only needed surgery to remove the tumor and 20% of her lung without further treatments like chemotherapy.<\/p>\n Within three weeks of her diagnosis, she was recovering at home from surgery, cancer-free.<\/p>\n \u201cAt stage 1, lung cancer can be surgically removed, usually without the need for further treatment like chemotherapy,\u201d said Baiu, who is also an assistant professor at Ohio State College of Medicine. \u201cAt stage 2, the lung cancer has spread to the lymph nodes and patients will need systemic therapy in addition to surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n Christy Houvouras plays doctors with her 3-year-old daughter at her home in Huntington, West Virginia.<\/p>\n![\"Christy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/fdc9e7b0cd60ecf11c92149fa911f807.jpeg\"\/)
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