Actress, comedian, musician and artist Kate Micucci recently underwent surgery for lung cancer, despite never having been a smoker.
“It’s pretty weird because I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life, so … it was a surprise. But I also guess it happens,” “The Big Bang Theory” actress said in a TikTok post made from her hospital bed.
She titled her post, which she called a “SickTok,” “An update on what I’ve been up to.”
The good news, Micucci said, is the cancer was found “really early.”
But how did the actress, who played Raj’s girlfriend Lucy on “The Big Bang Theory,” develop lung cancer if she never smoked?
According to the American Cancer Society: “Lung cancer in people who don’t smoke can be caused by exposure to radon, secondhand smoke, air pollution, or other factors. Workplace exposures to asbestos, diesel exhaust or certain other chemicals can also cause lung cancers in some people who don’t smoke.
“A small portion of lung cancers develop in people with no known risk factors for the disease. Some of these might just be random events that don’t have an outside cause, but others might be due to factors that we don’t yet know about.”
Because her tumor was caught early, the 43-year-old’s survival chances are 70% over another five years. If the cancer had spread, that percentage would have dropped to 5.
“It’s been a little bit of a trip and (I’ll) probably be moving slow for a few weeks but then I’ll be back at it,” Micucci said in her post, adding that she can’t wait to be painting more and will soon be doing that.
“Why am I still talking … ‘cause I’m on drugs!” she concluded.
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