Ted Koppel – CBS – Clearing the Air About COPD [VIDEO]

05 Dec Ted Koppel – CBS – Clearing the Air About COPD [VIDEO]

“COPD has an image problem,” says Ted Koppel, Senior Contributor to CBS Sunday Morning, whose wife Grace Anne was diagnosed with the disease 16 years ago.

“I call it the Rodney Dangerfield of diseases,” says Grace Anne, “because ‘It don’t get no respect.’”

If they smoked, COPD sufferers are often blamed for their disease. But while smoking is the single most significant cause of COPD, often other factors such as pollution or work environment are the contributing causes. And while 16 million Americans have been diagnosed with the disease and another 10 to 15 million may have COPD but have not yet been diagnosed, awareness of the disease is low.

The single most effective treatment, pulmonary rehabilitation, is available to only a few because COPD rehabilitation programs are few and far between. Funding for pulmonary rehabilitation centers and for finding a cure for COPD are sorely needed.

Watch the CBS Sunday Morning special, featured below, to learn about a new campaign to raise awareness and funding for COPD research and treatment. Or click here to go to the CBS News website to see the video.