YouTube recently shared a heartfelt letter from its former CEO, Susan Wojcicki, three months after her death due to lung cancer at age 56. The letter, written just weeks before her passing, has been released during Lung Cancer Awareness Month, which is observed in November, hoping to raise awareness about lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide.
Who is Susan Diane Wojcicki?
Susan Diane Wojcicki was an American business executive who was the chief executive officer of YouTube from 2014 to 2023. Her net worth was estimated at $765 million in 2022. Wojcicki worked in the technology industry for over twenty years.
Wojcicki became involved in the creation of Google in 1998 when she rented out her garage as an office to the company’s founders. She worked as Google’s first marketing manager in 1999, leading the company’s online advertising business and original video service. After observing the success of YouTube, she suggested that Google should buy it; the deal was approved for $1.65 billion in 2006. She was appointed CEO of YouTube in 2014, serving until resigning in February 2023.
Wojcicki died on August 9, 2024, at the age of 56, after living with non-small-cell lung cancer for two years.
What’s written in the letter?
In the letter, Wojcicki detailed her personal journey with the disease and emphasized the urgent need for better treatments. She shared the lessons she learned from the life-threatening disease and highlighted how lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer-related death in women and said that she planned to use her time and resources fighting for cures for cancer. She wrote, “At the end of 2022, I was diagnosed with lung cancer. I had almost no symptoms and was running a few miles a day at the time. I had never smoked so I was totally shocked with this diagnosis. My life changed dramatically after that day. I decided to resign from my role as CEO of YouTube, to focus on my health and my family. I was able to live an almost normal life, thanks to modern medicine.”
Wojcicki, who stepped down from her YouTube role following the diagnosis, continued to serve on boards for companies like Salesforce, Planet Labs, and Waymo. In her letter, she reflected on how the illness reshaped her outlook on life. She wrote in her letter, “Having cancer hasn’t been easy. As a person, I have changed a lot, and probably the most important lesson I have learned is just to focus and enjoy the present! Life is unpredictable for everyone, with many unknowns, but there is a lot of beauty in everyday life. My goals going forward are to enjoy the present as much as possible and fight for better understanding and cures for this disease.”
What is lung cancer?
Lung cancer is a disease caused by uncontrolled cell division in your lungs. Your cells divide and make more copies of themselves as a part of their normal function. But sometimes, they get changes (mutations) that cause them to keep making more of themselves when they shouldn’t. Damaged cells dividing uncontrollably create masses, or tumours, of tissue that eventually keep your organs from working properly.
Lung cancer is the name for cancers that start in your lungs — usually in the airways (bronchi or bronchioles) or small air sacs (alveoli). Cancers that start in other places and move to your lungs are usually named for where they start (your healthcare provider may refer to this as cancer that’s metastatic to your lungs).
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. In the US, it’s diagnosed in about 230,000 patients annually.
Prevention:
Is lung cancer preventable? To a large extent, yes. Here are some ways to reduce your risk:
Don’t smoke: Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer deaths, responsible for 80–90% of cases in the United States. If you smoke, quitting can significantly reduce your risk of developing lung cancer. The younger you quit, the greater the health benefits. Avoid second-hand smoke as well, by making your home and car smoke-free.
Reduce radon in your home: Radon is a radioactive gas that can build up in homes and cause lung cancer. Test your home for radon and take steps to reduce the level if it’s high.
Be active: Studies show that physically active people have a lower risk of lung cancer. The NHS recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week, plus strength training exercises at least twice a week.
Eat a healthy diet: Eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein. Some foods that may help prevent lung cancer include cruciferous vegetables, turmeric, and green tea.
Be careful at work: Follow health and safety guidelines to avoid carcinogens.
Other ways to prevent lung cancer include promoting smoke-free environments, implementing tobacco control policies, addressing occupational hazards, and reducing air pollution levels.
Treatment:
Treatments for lung cancer are designed to get rid of cancer in your body or slow down its growth. Treatments can remove cancerous cells, help to destroy them or keep them from multiplying or teach your immune system to fight them. Some therapies are also used to reduce symptoms and relieve pain. Your treatment will depend on the type of lung cancer you have, where it is, how far it’s spread and many other factors. Treatments include:
Surgery: An operation to remove the cancer. For early-stage lung cancer, surgery is often an option.
Chemotherapy: A series of treatments using strong medicines to kill or shrink cancer. Chemotherapy can be used before or after surgery, or alone to treat small-cell lung cancer.
Radiation therapy: Uses high-energy rays to kill cancer. Stereotactic body radiation therapy is a type of radiation therapy that uses special equipment to minimize damage to healthy tissue.
Targeted therapy: Uses drugs to block the growth and spread of cancer cells.
Immunotherapy: Helps the body’s immune system fight cancer. Adoptive T cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy that involves removing and altering T cells to help them attack cancer cells.
Cryotherapy: A treatment for metastatic lung cancer that freezes cancer cells.
Airway stent: A hollow tube that can be placed in the airway to open a narrowed area and help with breathing.
