Dana Reeve's death recently from lung cancer at the young age of 44 stunned and saddened the Nation. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among both men and women in the United States.

Marvelle Colby has beaten incredible odds as a five-year lung cancer survivor and today she says it's important for her to get the word out for better diagnostic tools for this disease. "Breast cancer has mammograms, prostate cancer as PSA's, colon cancer has colonoscopies. What is there? What is there? Most people think X-rays and X-rays aren't enough."

Oncologist Lowell Hart explains that x-rays aren't enough and it's time to stop pointing fingers and placing blame on smokers and work on ways to detect it early, and start treatment as soon as possible. "Any smoker who has any sort of change in pulmonary symptoms should really be investigated and I think one of the messages is that if you're going to really screen or look at someone closely who is a smoker, a CAT scan is a much better test."

Dr. Hart says that early detection of lung cancer will help anyone who is diagnosed, whether they are smokers or non-smokers. Anyone can be at risk as there has been a rise of lung cancer cases in non-smokers. "Which may be from second hand smoke or from other causes, pollution, there's radon in some peoples houses which can lead to some radiation exposure that's hard to test for, so we're definitely seeing that."

For those who may be facing a diagnosis of lung cancer, Marvelle wants to offer you hope, because she's been there and today she's living her life to the fullest. "I think that people have to believe that they can live. Believe that they can fight it. You're at war with a terrible disease but it can be fought. And it can be overcome."

The American Cancer Society offers support for people diagnosed with lung cancer and their families as well as resources to help smokers quit. It's never too late to quit.

The American Cancer Society can be reached at 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit them on the web at www.cancer.org