Lung Disease in WV

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Lisa Richardson can tell you how important it is to understand COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)—she has it. This former three-pack a day smoker, who hasn’t smoked since Apr. 14 of this year, still battles for breath. “I was at least three packs a day and thought nothing of it. Now that’s an addiction.”

COPD is a combination of chronic lung diseases that obstruct breathing, including emphysema, pneumonia and bronchitis. Approximately 90 percent of all cases of COPD are caused by long-term smoking. COPD often goes untreated or even undiagnosed.

West Virginia ranks first in the nation for deaths caused by COPD, and the number in the US is rising according to West Virginia University’s Center for Respiratory Biology and Lung Disease.

About five years ago, Richardson was told that she had chronic bronchitis, but she was given no management or treatment information. She wasn’t told that she had COPD until this year.

“COPD is misleading to people like me, because it’s a new phrase. Emphysema I know, and I know that it’s bad. But COPD? It’s a new fancy name for why I can’t breathe. I don’t think people put the two together. It’s the same thing.”

When asked how she felt about having COPD, she simply said “I’m scared to death.”

She says that she does feel better now that she doesn’t smoke anymore, but she still has trouble with shortness of breath. “I waited too long to quit smoking.”

When asked what she would say to anyone just diagnosed with COPD, her answer is quick and to-the-point. “Quit smoking.”

“COPD will never go away. You are not indestructible. You can quit smoking. You will recover in some ways. You will get better. But you will never, ever be the same as you were as a nonsmoker. Don’t kid yourself.” She admits that quitting was hard, but says that it’s not impossible. “If I can quit, anybody can quit. Trust me.”

“It’s not the nicotine withdraw that was so hard. That was gone in a short amount of time, and you can control that with the gum or patches. The problem is the habit. That’s what’s hard to break. You got to have the habit. If you can redirect your energy, that’s what’s hard to break.“

Lisa completed the Freedom From Smoking program—an eight session smoking cessation program—at Saint Francis Hospital.
“If it had not been for the class, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

“We need the community to understand the importance and prevalence of this disease in our state,” says Kelli Caseman , Program Manager, American Lung Association of West Virginia.

For more information contact Kelli Caseman at (304) 342-6600 or e-mail kcaseman@lunginfo.org.