Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

Why Lung Cancer is MY Fight

February 21st, 2012 - by admin

By Sue Bersh

I wrote about losing a best friend to lung cancer about a year ago for LUNGevity’s blog.  As I have become more and more active with LUNGevity, I have met many, many people whose lives have been touched by lung cancer. They are people who know lung cancer’s M.O.:  going undetected until it is in its late stages; having few options for treatment; being associated with the unfair stigma/blame that shadows this disease; taking lives quickly; and leaving people shocked that their options are few.  Lung cancer is ruthless.

I lost two people I love to lung cancer. I lost my Grandma Harriet when I was 16, and I lost my dear friend, Elyse (Bernstein) Keefe, 3-1/2 years ago when she was only 45. Both were huge losses in my life, but losing Elyse was what motivated me to take action.

Like a best friend should, I lived Elyse’s lung cancer with her. My heart broke when she was first diagnosed; when her cancer returned; on the day she asked her doctor how much time she had left; when she talked about all of the things she still wanted to do in her life; and countless times in between.  And there are no words to describe what I felt when I was holding her hand when she took her last breath. It was the single saddest moment of my life. Lung cancer showed no mercy to my sweet, loving and brave friend. Lung cancer took a second person that I loved — and changed me forever.

Elyse and I had volunteered once for LUNGevity.  We promised each other that when she got better we’d volunteer regularly. I have followed through on that for us both. I feel her with me in all that I do for LUNGevity. It’s the most meaningful way I can think of to honor her memory and keep her close. It’s also the only way I can think of to help ensure that others don’t suffer the way she did.

Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist who spent many years in a concentration camp during World War II, wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning (a book Rabbi Paul Cohen recommend to me when Elyse was sick) that everything in life can be taken from you except one thing: your freedom to choose how you will respond to a situation. What determines our quality of life is how we relate to the realities of life: what kind of meaning we assign them and what kind of attitude we cling to about them.

I lost one of my closest friends to lung cancer. I stared lung cancer in the face with her and it was terrifying. But instead of being angry and sad (and I do have a few of those moments), I have chosen to honor her journey and her memory with a legacy of love and hope. This is the meaning I have found in the loss of someone I love. This is what I have chosen to cling to.

I am honored to be a LUNGevity Board member, and I am proud to be Event Coordinator of Breathe Deep Deerfield.  Through my work with LUNGevity, I now have many friends with lung cancer. For my Grandma Harriet & Elyse; for Jill Feldman, Jerry Sorkin and my other friends with lung cancer; and for the almost one quarter of a million people diagnosed with lung cancer last year — this is MY fight now.

I hope that most of you will never know lung cancer. But the odds are not in your favor. It is the number one cancer killer, and 1 in 14 people will be diagnosed with it in our lifetime. It is likely to touch your life in some way. Anyone can get lung cancer.

Please help LUNGevity fund research into the early detection and successful treatment of lung cancer. If you live in the Chicago area, join us for a day of meaning and hope on May 6th at Deerfield High School.  Walk, run, volunteer, launch a balloon — register or donate today for Breathe Deep Deerfield.

WE can make a difference in the fight against lung cancer.

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Your Help Can Make This Fight Less Frightening

November 14th, 2011 - by admin

by Rhonda Garman

I’m Rhonda, and I’m on Charlie’s team for the LUNGevity “No Show Bowl” event this month.

Charlie is my dad.

In many ways Dad and I are a lot alike. For instance, neither of us likes to inconvenience people or ask anyone for help. We’re independent to the point of stubbornness. Both of us would try most anything short of the absurd to solve a problem before we’d admit defeat.

But a little more than a year ago, Dad was caught off-guard.

It wasn’t the bladder cancer. He’d just been through a second surgery to remove cancer from his bladder, and he was awaiting results from post-op scans. Preliminary reports from his surgeon had been promising.

On this August day, Dad would visit his family doctor for a follow-up. Routine day, routine visit; Dad grabbed the grocery list on his way out and went to the doctor.

I live three and one-half hours away from my parents, but I knew the report from Dad’s post-op scans would come back soon, and it was time for me to visit anyway. But there was certainly no need for Mom or me to go with Dad to the family doctor.

So alone he went. That’s another thing Dad and I have in common: There are times when, other things being equal, we’d prefer to be alone.

Here’s the thing: There’s a vast, deafeningly silent, and lonely difference between being alone and feeling alone. Just ask a man who thought he was going for a ten-minute follow-up visit with his family doctor, but who ended up being referred to an oncologist. Not as further treatment for the existing bladder cancer, but because the PRE-op X-ray taken before his bladder cancer surgery showed spots on both his lungs.

The image of my independent, inventive, in-control dad dealing with this devastating news all alone haunts me every day. How he had to quiet the fear enough to gather and retain information; how he must have struggled inside his mind to try and solve things before accepting the news; and how he worked out during the ten-minute drive home how to break the news to a wife and daughter.

It breaks my heart to see Dad’s helplessness against this disease. Lung cancer still kills more people per year than the next four leading cancer killers COMBINED. No one fights it without help. But with your help, the fight can be made less frightening.

That’s why we have this team. For Dad, and all those other lung cancer patients out there — and for everyone who has ever been, or ever will be, touched by this disease.

If you can help — with your donations, by joining Charlie’s Vols and raising money, or by telling people about this event and about Lung Cancer Awareness Month — you will be changing lives.

I am grateful to you for reading this, donating, spreading the word, or anything you are willing to do.

So is Dad.

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Be The Change

November 1st, 2011 - by admin

by Aisha Avery


I didn’t know where to turn or what to do when my father was diagnosed with lung cancer.

I knew it existed, but that was about all. I knew the questions streaming in my mind were forming a queue as I impatiently waited for answers from his doctors, oncologists, and google searches. Why wasn’t he diagnosed sooner? His diagnosis was stage-4. Why wasn’t he screened for lung cancer during any annual exam or check-up? He was a smoker with a family history of lung disease.

I quickly learned that there are no early detection exams for lung cancer and most people are diagnosed at its most aggressive stage. I couldn’t get a total grasp on these whys before I had to move on to more questions. My father fought a tough, yet short, battle. I felt like I fought it with him, but I was really just in his corner — providing encouragement, support and love. I don’t know what it’s like to fight lung cancer, but I know what it feels like to lose someone, my father, to it. Why didn’t he survive lung cancer? He passed away three months after his diagnosis.

Needless to say, my next lesson learned was that lung cancer patients have a low survival rate. As frustrating as this is to know, I honestly understood. In the absence of early detection exams, patients are diagnosed late and their chances of survival are compromised unless promising treatment is in place. And it wasn’t. I have a lot of respect for lung cancer oncologists and researchers. I know they are working hard for the cause, but treatment options for my father seemed limited and uncertain. Why?

I couldn’t find the answers I needed, so I began to reach out to lung cancer foundations. After speaking with a few, I connected with LUNGevity and learned that lung cancer is America’s leading cancer killer, yet it remains highly underfunded year after year. This is when I began to YOL — yell out loud. The more I asked why, the more frustrated I became. The lung cancer community needs funding to support research for early detection, treatment, and prevention
mechanisms.

I decided to stop asking why and learn how.

I’m committed to the fight against lung cancer. I started LUNGevity’s lung cancer walk in Atlanta and our third annual event is on November 12, 2011. If you have ever asked why lung cancer has a low survival rate, why patients aren’t diagnosed in early stages, or why lung cancer research is underfunded, join the fight and be the change the lung cancer community needs.

And if you’re in Atlanta, come join me!

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The Team Grace Story

October 12th, 2011 - by admin

by Cheryl and Ryan Grace

As a Non Smoker I was diagnosed with Stage IV NSLC in April 2006 at age 35 with  two little girls ages 1 and 2, new house etc.  We found out after I lost feeling in my legs and an MRI showed three brain mets and a CT Scan showed a small spot on my right lung.  Brain Surgery + Gamma Knife, radiation, lobectomy, chemo and things were looking pretty good.

About a year later, we found more brain mets, and two small spots on my left lung. Another brain surgery, more Gamma Knife, whole brain radiation and continuous chemo.

About two years ago we found a few bone mets, and last year I had another brain surgery and more Gamma Knife.

Long story short, I am a 5 ½ year Stage IV survivor. My kids are ages 6 and 7 now and without the support of my family and friends (all a part of TEAM GRACE) I would not have beaten the odds that were laid out in front of me back in 2006.

Recently, I had another setback, hence the TEAM GRACE resurgence this year.  We look forward to seeing you on Oct 23rd at Breathe Deep NYC

TEAM GRACE is currently the largest team registered to participate at the Breathe Deep NYC event with 91 members.  They’ve already exceeded their fundraising goals and raised more than $12,000.

Congratulations TEAM GRACE and thank you for joining us in raising awareness and funds for life saving research!

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