The Living Room: A Lung Cancer Community of Courage

Bonnie Addario, chair of the leading lung cancer foundation in the country and a survivor herself, profiles twenty men and women battling advanced lung cancer. Lung Cancer. The mere words strike fear in all of us—fear of the diagnosis, the treatment, and the ultimate prognosis. Where is the hope? It can be found in The Living Room by Bonnie Addario, a seventeen-year survivor of stage 3B lung cancer who established the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation in 2006 along with the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute in 2008, and is now co-founder and chair of the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer (2019). A determined activist on behalf of patients suffering from the disease, Bonnie has built an extraordinary global network of fellow activists, patients, doctors, oncologists, researchers, and caregivers—a thriving and ever-growing community devoted and committed to advocating on behalf of those patients and families affected by the disease. Among all cancers, none are more pernicious than lung cancer. Nearly 150,000 Americans are lost to the disease every year, amounting to around 400 every single day. It accounts for one-third of all cancer diagnoses, the most deaths of any cancer and as many losses as the next three most deadly cancers (breast, prostate, and colon) combined. The Living Room, which draws its name from a virtual support group live-streamed internationally once a month by Bonnie’s foundation, tells the stories of twenty lung cancer patients who have bravely fought the disease and found ways to thrive, not just to survive. The goal of Bonnie’s efforts is to break down the barriers and stigmas associated with lung cancer and demonstrate how the new wave of treatment options are moving to make it a manageable disease. The people you will meet in The Living Room will lead you to believe that miracles are all around us, that they’re happening every day, and that they just might happen to the next cancer patient who picks up this book. All proceeds from The Living Room will go directly to research and patient services.

About the Author :
Bonnie J. Addario, co-founder and board chair of GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer, is an advocate and educator. She has empowered patients and given them a voice since receiving a stage 3B lung cancer diagnosis more than a decade ago. Recognizing the need for education, empowerment, advocacy, and research to help patients and families, Bonnie and her family founded the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (ALCF) in 2006. In 2019, ALCF and the Lung Cancer Alliance merged, forming GO2 Foundation. Bonnie acts as an adviser to industry leaders, clinicians, and policymakers and is a member of the Personalized Medicine Coalition board.