LUNGevity Foundation Unites Communities to Advance Progress During 2026 Lung Cancer Awareness Month

Throughout November, LUNGevity will mobilize communities nationwide to support research, expand awareness of early detection, and improve the lives of people affected by lung cancer.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- This November, LUNGevity Foundation will bring communities across the country together for Lung Cancer Awareness Month (LCAM), turning awareness into action through public installations, community events, education, and advocacy to advance progress against lung cancer.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, but advances in early detection, precision medicine, and treatment are helping people live longer and better. This progress offers real hope and underscores the importance of making new advances accessible to everyone who needs them. Too many people are still diagnosed after their cancer has spread, while misconceptions and stigma can stand in the way of informed conversations about the disease. Continued research, earlier detection, and better access to care are essential to saving more lives.

"Lung Cancer Awareness Month is a time to recognize how far we have come and what we can accomplish together," said Andrea Ferris, President and CEO of LUNGevity Foundation. "Research is improving how we detect and treat lung cancer, and earlier detection can save lives. Our responsibility now is to build on that progress and make sure more people benefit from it. We invite communities across the country to join us in advancing research, expanding access to care, and improving lives."

Throughout November, LUNGevity will offer opportunities for people across the country to learn, connect, and make a difference, including:

• Every Breath Forward℠, a nationwide movement that honors lives lost to lung cancer and inspires action for a better future. Its centerpiece is an installation of 60,000 white flags on the National Mall in Washington, DC, with additional installations in communities across the country. People can participate by planting flags at home, making virtual dedications, volunteering, and sharing the campaign. Together, these displays honor loved ones and call for sustained progress in research, screening, and care.
  
  
• Breathe Deep TOGETHER, bringing the lung cancer community together on November 7^th in Boston, New York City, and Washington, DC, for walks, lung health resources, education, and opportunities to honor loved ones and celebrate survivors. Through Breathe Deep Anywhere, people nationwide can participate in their own communities while raising awareness and supporting research.
  
  
• Lung cancer awareness and education to address misconceptions and reduce stigma. Anyone with lungs can get lung cancer. Throughout the month, LUNGevity will share trusted information about risk, encourage informed conversations, and help more people understand the disease.
  
  
• Earlier detection and lung cancer screening. Finding lung cancer before it spreads can significantly improve outcomes. During Lung Cancer Awareness Month and on Lung Cancer Screening Day, November 14^th, LUNGevity will help people understand screening eligibility and encourage conversations with healthcare professionals about whether screening is right for them.
  
  
• Biomarker testing and precision medicine education, including LUNGevity's No One Missed campaign, which promotes complete biomarker testing and having results available before treatment decisions are made. LUNGevity will also recognize Cancer Biomarker Awareness Day on November 12^th to help more people understand how biomarker testing can inform cancer care.
  
  
• Advocacy that elevates the voices of people affected by lung cancer and calls for sustained research funding, broader access to screening and treatment, and policies that help people live longer and better.

Across these initiatives, LUNGevity is focused on a clear goal: ensuring that progress in lung cancer research and care accelerates and reaches more people. Scientific advances are creating new opportunities to detect lung cancer earlier and treat it more effectively. Greater awareness can challenge stigma and encourage timely conversations about screening and care. By working together, patients, survivors, caregivers, advocates, researchers, healthcare professionals, and supporters can help accelerate progress and improve lives.

LUNGevity's Lung Cancer Awareness Month initiatives are made possible with support from Presenting Sponsor Boehringer Ingelheim; Platinum Sponsors AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson; Gold Sponsor Amgen; and Silver Sponsors Daiichi Sankyo, Genentech, Lilly, Merck, Nuvalent, Regeneron, and Takeda.

Their support helps extend awareness, education, research, and community engagement throughout November and beyond.

Together, LUNGevity and the lung cancer community are advancing a future in which lung cancer is detected earlier, treated more effectively, and ultimately cured.

Visit www.LUNGevity.org/LCAM to learn more and find ways to get involved in Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

About LUNGevity Foundation

LUNGevity Foundation is transforming what it means to be diagnosed and live with lung cancer. While many organizations focus on one aspect of lung cancer, LUNGevity works across research, advocacy, and patient support, because lasting progress requires connecting all three. 

As the largest nonprofit funder of lung cancer research in the United States, LUNGevity drives progress in early detection, more effective treatments, and the next generation of researchers. We empower people diagnosed with lung cancer and their caregivers with scientifically vetted information, resources, and community and advocate for policies that improve access to screening, biomarker testing, treatment, and high-quality care for all.

By connecting scientific discovery, patient experience, and advocacy, we help ensure research reflects what patients need, breakthroughs reach the people who can benefit from them, and patient voices help drive meaningful change.

Our vision is a world where no one dies of lung cancer.

Please visit www.LUNGevity.org to learn more. 

About Lung Cancer in the US

• About 1 in 19 Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer in their lifetime.
  
  
• More than 229,000 people in the US will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year, with a new diagnosis every 2.3 minutes.
  
  
• It is estimated that close to 65% of all new lung cancer diagnoses are among people with no tobacco exposure or only past tobacco exposure.
  
  
• More lives are lost to lung cancer than to the next two deadliest cancers (colorectal and pancreatic) combined.
  
  
• Only 29.5% of all people diagnosed with lung cancer will survive 5 years or more, but if it's caught before it spreads, the chance of 5-year survival improves to 65%.

SOURCE LUNGevity Foundation