James “Jim” Fanale, 72, lung cancer, Falmouth, with Deb (wife), and David Barbie, MD, Director of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology, Thoracic Oncologist, Dana-Farber

Dr. James Fanale worked in healthcare for nearly five decades, but never really knew what it meant to be a patient until he was told he had cancer - Stage 4 lung cancer. James was president and CEO of Care New England, retiring in 2022, shortly after being diagnosed. Jim typically ran the Falmouth Road Race and insists on being able to continue running. Since his cancer diagnosis, Jim has focused on his personal life. He’s retired and planning trips with his wife, Deb. Jim is in the middle of writing a book called “Onward,” which focuses on the empathy in medicine and the emotional weight of the journey of patients and their caregivers. All the proceeds will be donated to a new “caregivers fund” at the Dana-Farber. Dr. Barbie is the Director of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is also Associate Director of the Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute. According to the American Cancer Society, there will be an estimated 234,580 new cases of lung cancer in the United States for 2024. Lung cancer is by far the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., accounting for about 1 in 5 of all cancer deaths. Each year, more people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. On a positive note, the number of new lung cancer cases continues to decrease, partly because more people are quitting smoking (or not starting). The number of lung cancer deaths continue to drop as well due to fewer people smoking and advances in early detection and treatment, according to the American Cancer Society.