Sharon Cary does not go out to dinner or dancing.
For lunch, she walks a half-block from her Baltimore city office because she cannot walk much further during code red air quality days.
For two years, she has battled a rather obscure lung disease called sarcoidosis, and Cary?s lungs cannot tolerate even a little cigarette smoke.
“We can?t go anywhere there?s smoke. My husband can?t even smoke something on the grill,” she said. “I grew up as a dancer. We love to go out and dance. We can?t do that.”
Sarcoidosis is an inflammation of small amounts of tissue that can occur in the skin, lungs or internal organs, though lungs are the most commonly affected, according to the American Lung Association Web site. Doctors and researchers are at a loss to explain the illness, though treatment is often similar to that prescribed for asthma or lung cancer. Like cancer, it can return even after a successful treatment.
Was it caused by a serious bout of pneumonia in 2000 that left her with asthma or her husband?s work at the bio-warfare lab in Fort Detrick, or the asbestos mitigation in her office? Cary gave up trying to figure out what caused her condition, and is focusing on treatment. After two years on chemotherapy, Cary said, “I?m stable. I didn?t get worse.”
The 41-year-old paralegal has found help from cancer patients, who advised her to eat more eggs and dairy to control the nausea treatments often bring.
“I feel like a Guinea pig, but so far it?s working for me,” she said.
She would like to see more help from the government. Restaurants in smoke-free Prince George?s and Montgomery counties are too far away from her Catonsville home, Cary said, and Howard County?s smoke-free bill died this spring.
Smoke Free Maryland is pushing for another attempt to pass a statewide ban during next year?s legislative session.
“The risks associated with secondhand smoke are real,” said Smoke Free Maryland Director Kari Appler. “It?s time to make all Maryland bars and restaurants smoke-free.”
