A Carmel woman diagnosed with lung cancer seeks to raise awareness during Women's Lung Health Week.

Mariann Casagrande was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2015 but says she that she is determined to be free of the disease.

She explains that each chemo treatment lasts about two or three years. She adds that she will enter her seventh year of treatment this October and hopes that it will last a few years.

Casagrande says the options that are available for treatment is what keeps her determined to find a cure and raise awareness.

She says she supports others and drives awareness on the disease's ongoing threat.

She says anyone who has lungs is at risk. She says lung cancer is the number one killer of both women and men in the United States, but that it's no longer just a smoker's disease.

She emphasizes that smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer, but that there are other causes like environmental issues.

Women's Lung Health Week runs from May 8 through May 14 and when the "Lung Force Walk Westchester" steps off on June 25, Casagrande plans to participate in that event as well.

Casagrande says she deals with the side effects the best she can and credits her support system for helping her get through the discomfort to live her life to the fullest.