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Non-Smokers Can Get Lung Cancer Too -- This Glen Rock Mom Did

Jennifer Cosgrove of Glen Rock has never been a smoker. The mom of three was in the best shape of her life when disaster struck last year: Lung cancer, Stage IV.

Jen Carroll Cosgrove, 39 of Glen Rock, was diagnosed with lung cancer last year despite being a non-smoker.

Jen Carroll Cosgrove, 39 of Glen Rock, was diagnosed with lung cancer last year despite being a non-smoker.

Photo Credit: Contributed

The 39-year-old tested positive for the ALK+ gene rearrangement, a rare type of lung cancer typically found among younger non-smokers.

More than $8,000 has already been raised for the ALK+ Research Fund ahead of an upcoming fundraiser for Cosgrove. (CLICK HERE TO DONATE).

The current line of therapy Cosgrove is on only lasts for a period of time before the cancer progresses and mutates. Longer-term survival is dependent on continued advances in medical research to develop newer, better treatments.

Lung cancer will kill more American women this year than breast, ovarian, and cervical cancer combined.

Cosgrove has decided to take action against her disease and is now participating in the grassroots patient-driven group Life and Breath Rally (LAB). She is also active in her ALK+ lung cancer mutation group.

She devotes her free time to volunteering at her children's schools Central School and Academy of Our Lady.

In April, Cosgrove and five other Glen Rock moms took their fight for an increase in funding for lung cancer to Washington D.C. where met privately with Representative Josh Gottheimer on Capitol Hill. There, they asked him to co-sponsor the women and lung cancer research act and provide funding for a public service campaign.

Thanks to the medical advances of the past decade, Cosgrove takes targeted therapy medicine that is keeping her cancer suppressed and blocks the gene from signaling.

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