Stanford professor turns his terminal cancer diagnosis into a class on life, death and hope

Dr. Bryant Lin thought his lingering cough was just allergies. Six weeks later, the Stanford University professor received devastating news: stage 4 lung cancer.

The irony wasn't lost on Lin, who had spent years researching and teaching about non-smoker lung cancer.

"I become the poster child for the disease," he said.

Lin, who never smoked and wasn't exposed to secondhand smoke, represents a growing demographic.

For Asians, the odds are higher. Asian women have twice the rate of non-smoker lung cancer than non-Asian women, according to Lin and recent studies.

Rather than retreat from his diagnosis, the 50-year-old Lin made an unprecedented decision: He created a Stanford course centered around his cancer journey, giving medical students an unfiltered view of terminal illness fro