As I sit here at my makeshift desk, I'm watching my neighbour puff away on a cigarette, with the smell of smoke wafting into my open window. Over the years, a few people close to me -- my mom, my aunt, my boyfriend -- have quit smoking and kept away from cigarettes, but a few people in my life still smoke and show no signs of slowing down anytime soon, despite my nagging. Yeah, I know, they'll only quit when they're good and ready, but it's a bit depressing--what will it take for people to stop ruining their health? A cancer diagnosis? So many non-smokers die of cancer ... how does that bode for smokers?

Anyway, here's some good news -- a while back, it was reported that calls flooded in to ABC after a special on Peter Jennings' death aired, called Quit to Live. Now it's evident that calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW have not only doubled but tripled as a result of the special. So there are people out there resolving to quit and putting their health before the hassle of breaking an addiction. That's at least a bit promising, don't you think?

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.

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.

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.

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.