The world was stunned to learn that Dana Reeve, a non-smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer. Peter Jennings, who had quit smoking many years before his lung cancer death -- and who had only recently taken up the smoking habit again before being diagnosed with lung cancer -- was perhaps less confusing. Jennings publicly blamed smoking for his cancer. For many among us, spoken or unspoken, lung cancer has been thought to be a smoker's disease. With the loss of Dana Reeve, a non-smoker, new questions were asked, and conversation began, into all the causes of lung cancer. As a result of Dana Reeve's lung cancer death, non-smokers were asking out loud -- how much danger am I in for developing lung cancer. The every day person was soon to learn that not much is truly known about lung cancer, or clearly spelled out.

One of the most confounding truths about lung cancer and smoking, is that only 15 percent of smokers develop lung cancer, and almost 20 percent of lung cancer diagnosis involve non-smokers. University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center researchers are attempting to develop an assessment model to determine who is at greater risk for lung cancer. Here is some of the information they have come up with so far in the assessment model:

• Heavy smokers who have a previous history of emphysema exhibit nearly a four times increased risk of lung cancer than light smokers without emphysema.
• The risk of developing lung cancer increases to nearly 11-fold if a patient with the same medical history also has an inefficient DNA repair capacity.
• Individuals with a history of allergies have a 29 percent reduced risk of lung cancer.
• Such individuals, who also exhibit efficient DNA repair capacity, have a 56 percent reduced risk of developing lung cancer, compared with people who do not have allergies with poor DNA repair genes.
• Genetically, family members of lung cancer patients had more than a six-fold increased risk of developing lung cancer before the age of 50. Their risk of developing any type of cancer before age 50 was 44 percent higher.

Because there is such an increased focus on lung cancer now, this is just the beginning of information we can expect to learn in the near future to not only predict, but prevent by intervention, lung cancer for those who are at greater risk of developing the disease.

Last night, I watched The New Medicine, hosted by Dana Reeve, and I was inspired. The message was everything I imagined Dana Reeve would so eloquently share as it mirrored the compassion, character and spirit of her life. During the show, several people were featured telling their personal story. One was a woman, who at 27, and single, had her large intestine surgically removed. This meant for the rest of her life she would be required to wear an external device to collect her stomach acids. Believing herself now devoid of any femininity, and unable to envision a future of hope or promise, she carefully collected the sleeping pills given to her each day, saving them for when she was released from the hospital. Once she returned home, she planned to take her life.

The actions of the medical staff reinforced her resolve that she was now something less than desirable, when each day, they arrived in white coats and gloves to remove and replace her device. When they finished they washed their hands and left her room. However, one evening, before her hospital release, a woman arrived, in evening wear and high heels. Stopping in to help on her way to an evening dinner date, she casually chatted as she removed the device, and carefully replaced it with a clean one. She did not wear gloves. The woman says she remembers the smell of her perfume and her beautifully painted fingernails. The woman who came to help her, washed her hands before handling the device. It changed the young woman's life, and in that single gesture of humanity and dignity, her perception of herself changed, and she rediscovered the first glimmers of hope. The young woman, now in her mid-life years, did not go home and commit suicide as she had planned, but went forward to embrace and live life, defining femininity on her own terms.

Just a reminder. The New Medicine: Returning the Human Touch to High-Tech Care, a PBS two hour documentary hosted by Dana Reeve, will air on Wednesday, March 29 at 9:00 ET. Filmed three months before her death, Dana was said to be upbeat and optimistic about the future.

"She was very hopeful at that point that she would survive," director Muffie Meyer recalled. "She was buying Christmas presents for her son that day, and really had a tremendous amount of energy. She seemed wonderful, and very, very grounded and strong."

The profound loss of Dana Reeve to lung cancer is still such a shock for many of us. The central theme of the documentary looks at how mainstream doctors are embracing treatment of the whole patient and not merely the symptoms of a disease. Dana Reeve embraced the world, and this documentary almost feels like a gift she left for us - to inspire us - and to enlighten us to healing perspectives she felt were important in facing the challenges and obstacles of disease.

Dana Reeve's lung cancer diagnosis and death this week has shocked a nation, and prompted active community conversations about the causes of lung cancer. Reeve was not a smoker, but she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Christine Stewart was not a smoker, but she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Both women in the prime of their life at the time of lung cancer diagnosis. The shock of Reeve's lung cancer death has been eye-opening for many people, because the perception has always been that lung cancer is a smoker's disease. While it is true, the majority of lung cancer diagnosis can be linked to cigarette smoking, a noticeable percentage of lung cancer diagnosis result from other causes. Non-smokers contract lung cancer from a variety of sources, including asbestos, air pollution and radon gas. The Invisible Cause of Cancer may surprise you, exposes the hidden dangers of radon exposure in the home.

Radon, an invisible, odorless, tasteless radioactive gas that occurs naturally in soil and rocks, is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, with an estimated 21,000 lung cancer deaths each year. Radon seeps through the ground and into buildings, and is a major source of indoor air pollution.

"Sadly, it takes her (Dana Reeve) death, coming just seven months after diagnosis, and the fact she never smoked, to let the public see the real picture of lung cancer which they are not getting from the public health establishment. Lung cancer continues to be portrayed as a self-induced cancer that does not deserve public research funding," said Laurie Fenton, president of the Lung Cancer Alliance. "Yes, smoking is the biggest single factor in lung cancer and cessation is still the frontline approach. But, we cannot pretend that smoking cessation alone will end lung cancer which continues to be the biggest single cancer killer. We must look at the disease in its entirety."

Communities across this country are talking about lung cancer, how anyone can at danger for lung cancer, and how to take lung cancer prevention measures, such as testing for radon in the home, a lung cancer risk not associated with cigarette smoking. Because, what became clear for the public this week, is that, even if you are not a smoker, you are still at risk of a lung cancer diagnosis. If it could happen to Dana Reeve, it can happen to anyone.

I think Will Reeve has been on the hearts and minds of all parents as he suffers the loss of his mother, Dana Reeve. As parents, it is instinctual to want to protect children. But no one can give back what was taken from Will, or protect him from the pain. It is comforting to know he is surrounded by an abundance of love and support.

Thursday evening, Inside Edition reported Lance Armstrong spent Wednesday with 13-year-old Will Reeve, less than two days after his mother, Dana Reeve, died of lung cancer. “I would say that his spirits were pretty good considering that, in the last 18 months, he’s lost his father, his mother and his grandmother,” stated Armstrong during the television interview. “In situations like this, all you can do is say, ‘Hey buddy, I’m here if you want to go hang out, if you want to play games, whatever you want to do, I’m here.”’

Armstrong said he became close to Will as he spent time with Will during the last few months of his mother's life. “I love hanging with him,” Armstrong said. “I never thought I’d say that about a 13-year-old, but he’s a great kid. He’s a big sports fan. He’s an athlete himself. Will is not your normal 13-year-old. He’s a smart, well-adjusted, mature, humble kid.”

Tuesday, Armstrong was a speaker at a motivational conference in Montreal, when he was told of Dana Reeve's death. "Now that Dana Reeve has unfortunately passed away, it brings a whole new level of awareness to the disease and I think Peter Jennings' passing was huge for cancer. We don't ever want to lose anybody, but when Peter Jennings dies of lung cancer, people say, 'oh, my god, what - Peter Jennings died?'" Armstrong said.

Armstrong feels that high profile survivors and cancer victims both contribute to awareness about the disease. He also said that he hopes high-profile deaths will bring attention to the fact that more needs to be done in the fight against cancer. "It's been a long time since we decided to fight this war and we're not doing enough," Armstrong said.

Christine Stewart of Practical Truisms, a lung cancer survivor, was part of the Naples Relay For Life kick-off party, where cancer survivors remembered Dana Reeve for her work as a cancer advocate. Stewart hopes the death of Dana Reeve will educate people about lung cancer. Stewart had never been a smoker either, when she was diagnosed with lung cancer.

"Lung cancer has a difficult time getting funds because people think oh, just don't smoke and you won't get it, problem solved," says Stewart, lung cancer survivor. Dana Reeve and Christine Stewart remind us, this is just not the case. Hopefully, with more public awareness, the stigma often associated with lung cancer being a smoker's disease, will fade. Lung cancer research is seriously under-funded.

As a reader of The Cancer Blog, you may remember Stewart, from Practical Truisms: inspiration from a lung cancer survivor. In 2004, Christine Stewart, a young woman with two small children, who did not smoke cigarettes, was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer. At the time of diagnosis, Stewart was given a two percent chance of surviving a lung cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes, tailbone and brain. Because of a clinical trial drug given to Stewart, she is with us today, in cancer remission. Stewart has been a joy to get to know, and is one of my favorite women in the cancer community.

The New Medicine: Returning the Human Touch to High-Tech Care, a PBS two hour documentary hosted by Dana Reeve, will go ahead and air on March 29 at 9:00 ET. Filmed months before her death, the show explores the integration of the best of high-tech medicine with a new attitude that recognizes it is essential to the healing process to treat the patient as a whole person, and not a cog in an assembly line.

According to the documentary, the practice of medicine is on the brink of transformation. As scientific findings reveal that the mind plays a critical role in the body’s capacity to heal, the healthcare community is beginning to integrate this new understanding into effective treatment with the patient. In the preview for the show, Dana Reeves is shown speaking about her belief that hope had been a positive influence on her sense of wellbeing and health, and hope is something both her and Chris, her late husband, depended on to support a positive influence for health.

Hope is a light Dana Reeve shone for each of us, by the grace, dignity and strength in how she lived her life, and in the beauty of her spirit that lives on with us.

Late Monday, Dana Reeve, who fought for better treatments and possible cures for paralysis through the Christopher Reeve Foundation, named for her late actor-husband, has died of lung cancer, the foundation said.

Reeve, when first diagnosed with lung cancer, said, "More than ever, I feel Chris with me as I face this challenge. As always, I look to him as the ultimate example of defying the odds with strength, courage and hope in the face of life's adversities."

Reeve is one of the cases of lung cancer diagnosis in people who never smoked. Doctors say of lung cancer diagnosis made, 10 to 20 percent of lung cancer patients never smoked.

"On behalf of the entire Board of Directors and staff of the Christopher Reeve Foundation, we are extremely saddened by the death of Dana Reeve. Dana will always be remembered for her passion, strength and ceaseless courage that became her hallmark," said Kathy Lewis, President and CEO of the foundation. "Along with her husband, Christopher, she faced adversity with grace and determination, bringing hope to millions around the world."

Survived by her son Will, 13, and two grown stepchildren, Matthew and Alexandra, Dana Reeve was 44.