The Lung Love Run Walk Portland is coming up again, and I’m excited! Join us on Saturday, June 23rd, for the walk. Our goal this year is to have 30 team members, and to raise $2,500 for the Lung Cancer Alliance.
As you are aware, I am passionate about this cause. I am still alive twelve years after I was first diagnosed with lung cancer, and that has only been possible because of lung cancer research. I have been on three treatments that didn’t even exist the first time I was diagnosed, something that is not possible without lung cancer research. But there are still huge holes in the options available. I have lost friends to this deadly disease, and the next treatment needed to keep me alive may not have been invented yet. We need the research funds now.
Next Thursday, Genevieve and I will be going to Washington, DC for a lung cancer rally on Capitol Hill to raise awareness of the 433 people a day who die of lung cancer. That afternoon, we will have private appointments with Senator Ron Wyden, Senator Jeff Merkley’s staff, and Representative Suzanne Bonamici, where we will be pressing for lung cancer research funding. I was stunned to learn that the National Institutes of Health only spend 6% of their research dollars on lung cancer. Since lung cancer kills more people than the next three cancers(breast, ovarian, and prostate) combined, that is unconscionable.
We borrowed our agenda from the Lung Cancer Alliance, and will return in July with that group for an organized lobbying trip to press the agenda again. I lobbied with this group two years ago, and it was an empowering experience, having influence on our government.
So if you would like to join us on a beautiful June morning, under the shade of the trees in gorgeous Laurelhurst park, click here, and join team Live Lung and Prosper.
If you would like to donate, click here.
And, even better, if you would like to form your own team, click here. The best way to grow an event like this is to grow the number of teams.
Thank you for your ongoing support in a million different ways.
Love,
Dann