With the Thanksgiving holiday in November, the month has become synonymous with gratitude in the U.S. November is also Lung Cancer Awareness Month; an initiative started in 1995 to increase knowledge of the disease. 

GRACE decided to combine the two ideas. For the next month, we will post videos, images and blog posts where a patient, caregiver, or doctor highlights a currently- or soon-to-be enrolling clinical trial, a victory against lung cancer, or their gratitude in the realm of lung cancer.

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month. What are you grateful for?
^{Photo by Gilles Frydman/Smart Patients}

What we want to accomplish is threefold:

- First and foremost, we want more lung cancer patients talking to their doctors about clinical trials. GRACE’s team of faculty will highlight 15 trials that they think are the most exciting. 

- Secondly, we want to celebrate the moments of beauty that arise even during some of the toughest days of our lives. We asked doctors, patients, and caregivers to tell us, “In the world of lung cancer, what are you grateful for?” 

- Finally, we hope to give patients and caregivers a peek at the softer side of their medical teams. The doctors who participated in this initiative did so out of love, admiration and – yes – gratitude for their patients. 

And speaking of gratitude, I’d like to thank the doctors, patients, and caregivers who gave some pretty personal answers for our videos. Thank you to the doctors and researchers who are searching for answers through clinical trials. And thank you to Smart Patients, Celgene, Boehringer-Ingelheim, and Astra Zeneca for their support our gratitude campaign.