Kellie Pickler entered the entertainment spotlight as a contestant on "American Idol" and made her mark on the country music world with hit after hit and dazzled her way to the championship of "Dancing With The Stars." Now she's using her celebrity fame to help a cause she reveals is "near and dear to my heart": the battle to beat lung cancer, according to ABC News.
Her grandmother's death from lung cancer makes her participation in the American Lung Association's Lung Force a truly personal endeavor. Launched earlier this year, Lung Force intends to act as a battle cry for women in the fight against lung cancer and for lung health.
"I was 15 when my grandmother, Faye Pickler - she was the one I called 'Mom,' she had a big part in raising me - was diagnosed with lung cancer back in January 2002, and she passed away the very next day after being diagnosed," Pickler recalls.
"It was very sudden, there's no way to prepare for that," she added. "The generation of women she grew up with they didn't know the long term affects smoking would cause, she was a smoker and she was only 66 when she passed away."
So when the opportunity came around for Pickler to work with the American Lung Association, she says she was honored and ready to give her time to the crucially important effort. "It's something very near and dear to my heart, and it makes you feel good to be a part of something that matters ... something that has to do with helping lives and saving lives," she confides.
"I had no idea that it was the No. 1 cancer killer for women in America. I was really shocked by that," continued the singer. "I think just knowing these particular facts is very important so we are educated and we can learn more about this and raise money and awareness."
Statistics show that 49 percent of women openly admit that they don't view the possibility of lung cancer as a legitimate concern because they've either never smoked or have successfully quit. But that is false sense of security.
"You could have never smoked a day in your life and still be diagnosed with lung cancer, because in so many cases, it's hereditary," Pickler explains, as quoted by SheKnows.com.
The songstress added that lung cancer is the No. 1 cancer killer in women and that 72,000 women in the United States will die this year from the disease.
"I think word of the mouth is a powerful thing," she said with her signature drawl. "I think you just have to slap people with the facts and hope that wakes them up."
After making the Top Six on "American Idol" in 2006 with Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee and Chris Daughtry, Pickler was eliminated. Less than two weeks later, she signs a record deal with Sony BMG Nashville. In September, her first single, "Red High Heels," is released as a lead in to her debut album, "Small Town Girl." The album debuts at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart.
Go to Lungforce.org to learn more about how you can help.
