Bad news for the Brooklyn Nine-Nine fandom, our dearest Captain Holt, aka Andre Braugher succumbed to lung cancer on December 11, 2023. Two-time Emmy award winner was best known for his roles in Brooklyn Nine-Nine as Captain Ray Holt, and in Homicide: Life on the Street as Detective Frank Pembleton. His last project was the biographical drama She Said, opposite Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan.
His lung cancer was diagnosed a few months back despite the fact that he quit smoking years ago. Then what could have been the reason behind the development of the cancer? Read more to understand the disease better, the possible causes, and the treatment process.
What Is Lung Cancer?
Lung cancer is a type of cancer where abnormal cells start growing inside the lungs at an uncontrollable pace. It can start off as an unstoppable cough, along with chest pain and trouble breathing. There are two common types of lung cancer, non-small cell carcinoma (NSCLC), which grows slowly, and small cell carcinoma (SCLC), which can rapidly spread. Lung cancer has one of the highest mortality rates of 18 percent of all cancer-related deaths.
Also Read: Types Of Lung Cancer
What Are The Cause Of Lung Cancer?
The primary risk factor for lung cancer is smoking tobacco, be it in the form of cigarettes, pipes, or cigars. However, non-smokers can also develop lung cancer for a plethora of reasons. It can be anything from air pollution and secondhand smoke to hereditary cancer syndromes, and previous chronic lung diseases.
What Are The Symptoms Of Lung Cancer?
Once the lung cancer starts growing, certain symptoms start coming to the surface indicating that there is something wrong in there. The most common symptoms can be:
- Uncontrollable cough that simply just won’t go away.
- Having trouble breathing
- A feeling of tightness in the chest
- Coughing up blood
- Extreme chest pain
- Constant fatigue
- Repetitive lung infections
- Unexplained weight loss
Diagnosis And Treatment
Diagnosing lung cancer requires imaging like chest X-ray, C.T. Scans, and magnetic resonance imaging. It might also need an internal examination of the lung through bronchoscopy and a tissue sample to identify the subtypes, mutations, or biomarkers.
The treatment process of lung cancer includes surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. If the cancer is in the initial stages and hasn’t spread out yet, surgery is the best option to completely remove it, and radiation and chemotherapy can help shrink any of what might be left.
Prevention
The best thing to do in order to avoid lung cancer is to completely stay away from smoking tobacco. However, secondhand smoke and air pollution can also be a factor and they can’t be completely dealt with on an individual level.