Spurred by the memory of his late wife, Roy Sakata is embarking on a personal crusade to rid lung cancer patients of stigma.
Sakata set up a year ago, with the help of friends, a non-profit organization called Stigmatize Us No More which dreams of a day when lung cancer patients don’t suffer from the stigma of the killer disease inflicting their life.
With November being Lung Cancer Month, Sakata thought it would be fitting to draw attention to his wife Myrna’s four-year fight with cancer — which finally claimed her life on Jan. 3, 2013.
He described how the dismissal and poor treatment she received from the medical profession, and from the general public was “astounding,” due to the mindset that smokers and former smokers had brought the disease on themselves.
He’s hoping that, over time, he can affect some change in the way people think about lung cancer sufferers by fundraising and awareness campaigns.
“There was a constant assumption, from the doctors to ordinary people we met, that she was still smoking,” said Sakata, a former Manoah Steves elementary principal and unsuccessful city council candidate in the recent municipal election.
“She did smoke when she was a teenager, but gave it up when she fell pregnant in 1977.
“Lung cancer patients around the world experience the stigma and I want to start something that addresses that.”
As well as his mission to de-stigmatize lung cancer, Sakata is advocating for more funding for research into the disease, which, at present, only gets a small share of government-assisted, cancer-related funding.
“Lung cancer really is a funding orphan; they get, like, seven per cent compared to breast cancer, which is up in the 30s,” added Sakata.
To raise funds for the cause, Sakata is writing a book about his wife and his experiences, has written a song in memory of his wife, and has printed t-shirts, all of which can be bought on his website at stigmatizeusnomore.com.
