Lung Cancer: The Smoking Gun The untimely death of nonsmoker activist Dana Reeve, widow of actor Christopher Reeve, to lung cancer revealed a little known fact--lung cancer among women is at epidemic proportions. This year, it will kill nearly 68,510 American women, more than breast and ovarian cancers combined. Smoking accounts for 87% of cases among men and women. The good news is that the survival rate has doubled over 30 years, and if caught early, many lung cancers can be cured.