Blogging for Joan

NEW BLOG SITE!

2011-09-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

"Blogging for Joan" has moved!

www.bloggingforjoan.org and www.bloggingforjoan.com should redirect there automatically.

However, the direct URL is
http://www.gaetafund.org/blogging-for-joan1.html.

See you there!

Check out our new, redesigned web site!

2011-09-22T21:48:00.001-07:00

http://www.forjoan.org/

New, sleek interface! Easier navigation! Same great resource!

Leave a comment and let us know what you think...

New Method for Detecting Lung Cancer Unveiled

2011-09-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

Originally published on PhysOrg.com on September 15th, 2011.

When lung cancer strikes, it often spreads silently into more advanced stages before being detected. In a new article published in Nature Nanotechnology, biological engineers and medical scientists at the University of Missouri reveal how their discovery could provide a much earlier warning signal.

"Early detection can save lives, but there is currently no proven screening test available for lung cancer," said Michael Wang, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences at MU and a corresponding author for the article. "We've developed highly sensitive technology that can detect a specific molecule type in the bloodstream when lung cancer is present."

Worldwide and in the United States, lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death. In the U.S., more than 221,000 people will be newly diagnosed with lung cancer in 2011, and more than 155,000 people will die from the disease this year.

MU researchers used blood plasma samples to detect a change in a specific small ribonucleic acid (microRNA) molecule that is often elevated in lung cancer patients. The scientists put an extract of blood plasma through a protein-based nanopore, which is a tiny hole in a thin membrane that is just big enough for a single molecule to pass through. By applying an ionic current to the nanopore, the scientists measured changes in the current that occur when the microRNA molecule associated with lung cancer is present.

"That altered current acts as a signal or bio-signature that is related to lung cancer," said Li-Qun Gu, PhD, an associate professor of biological engineering at MU and a corresponding author for the article. "Our new nanopore sensor is selective and sensitive enough to detect microRNAs at the single molecular level in plasma samples from lung cancer patients.

"While there are many research labs that focus on nanopore applications, this is the first time that nanopore technology has been used to detect lung cancer," Gu added. "This technology could possibly be used in the future to detect other cancer types as well as other types of diseases with specific DNA or RNA in the blood."

Provided by University of Missouri School of Medicine

Jogging for Joan - Join our team today!

2011-09-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month!

There are two Lung Cancer Awareness 5Ks coming up in Atlanta area.

We are drafting "Jogging for Joan" teams at each one of these events.

No More Excuses 5K

Supporting Lung Cancer Alliance

Saturday, November 5

North Point Shopping Center

Alpharetta, GA

Click HERE to join our team and register!

Breath Deep Atlanta 5K

Supporting LUNGevity Foundation

Saturday, November 12th

Georgia Tech Campus

BioTech Courtyard

315 Ferst Avenue

Atlanta, GA 30318

Click HERE to join our team and register!

Spread the word!

Lung cancer matters, too. Nobody deserves it.
And, you do not have to smoke to get it.

5th Annual Dancing for Joan! Save the Date!

2011-09-07T14:32:00.000-07:00

The Fifth Annual Dancing for Joan is set for Saturday, February 25th, 2012!

Dancing for Joan is our annual fund raiser that honors Joan’s love of dancing. It is a festive evening of cocktails, dinner, great music, dancing, silent auction, and a “call to action” in the fight against lung cancer.

Dancing for Joan is a fun and exciting way to honor important contributors in the crusade and to raise the funds needed for research and awareness.

We our very proud to be celebrating our fifth anniversary of fighting lung cancer and hope you will join us.

Sponsorship packages are now available! We offer four affordable sponsorship packages to fit any budget. Click here for their descriptions and to purchase. Or, you may contact us at (404) 0987-0792 or gaetafund@gmail.com for more information.

Watch this space for more information as it becomes availalbe! Spread the word!

85% of the net proceeds from Dancing for Joan will be invested in the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALMCI). Learn about our affliation with ALCMI here. Visit ALCMI online at http://www.alcmi.net/.

The Last Refrigerator

2011-08-31T14:15:00.000-07:00

by Rob Densen
Originally published August 30th, 2011 on The Huffington Post.

I came home Monday night, took one look at my wife, and knew something was desperately wrong.

"Honey, what is it?" I asked, half inquiring, half -- by way of my sheepish intonation -- signaling my acceptance of the blame for whatever was awry in her life.

"The refrigerator.... It's dead."

"Dead, as in finito? Beyond any reasonable hope of repair?"

"Dead as in last week's vegetable lasagna is lying in the sink, a disgusting, slimy mush. And your no-sugar-added fudge pops? Let's just say you don't want to know what they look like."

And then came the knockout punch. "This is your fault."

I couldn't argue. For the last week or so, as our 14-year-old refrigerator struggled for its last few cooling breaths, I was making my wife miserable in her search for a replacement, something that should, normally, be a mindless, checklist task.

Our late refrigerator was a full-length side by side, with beveled wood panels on the doors which we got to match the cabinetry when we remodeled the kitchen. When it came to a replacement, I had relented on figuring out how to match the cabinets, but I was insistent on a side by side. My wife preferred the fridge-on-top-with-French-doors-freezer-on-the-bottom arrangement that is all the rage.

For the record, my preference for a side by side wasn't just a matter of style. With a reconstructed knee, a frozen shoulder, and two bulging discs in my back wrapped around a giant lazy streak, I generally go out of my way to avoid any sort of bending motion. It's not impossible, just a little uncomfortable.

In the week we dilly-dallied, the food was melting in the fridge -- and my wife was on the way.
The next night I returned home and all was fine. "I ordered the top/down model. It will be here Thursday."

She had been to her Pilates class earlier in the day and, in the midst of a long discussion with her instructor, it all became clear. "I realized," she said, "that this will be my last refrigerator."

A Life Measured in Kilowatt Hours

I couldn't argue with her. Not with the logic and, most regrettably, not with the truthfulness of that statement. My wife has Stage IV lung cancer. Given the arc of the disease and the quality of refrigerator design and construction, it is highly probable that this will be her last refrigerator. The question is, are we also on our last washing machine, hairdryer or big screen TV?

It is unbelievably painful -- but sobering and highly instructive -- to look at lung cancer that way. Diagnosed with lung cancer and you're not talking decades, but kilowatt hours.

It is an incredibly virulent disease. Overall, lung cancer has a 15% five-year survival rate. Stage IV lung cancer, the most common staging at diagnosis, has a 4% survival rate. Look at it this way: by the time you've finished reading this post, two more Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer. They are likely to be dead within five years.

Here's another cold, hard and, I hope, unacceptable fact: 160,000 Americans will die of lung cancer in 2011 -- three times more than the next most deadly cancer and more than prostate, breast, pancreatic, pediatric and colon cancer COMBINED.

And while breast cancer grabs the attention, the funding dollars and the 5K walk participants, the fact is that close to 70% MORE WOMEN will die of lung cancer this year than will die of breast cancer. Many of them will be women like my wife who never smoked, Indeed, cancer in women who never smoked is one of the fastest growing cancers. No one knows why. Regrettably, not many people are even asking the question.

Of Lung Cancer and Consumer Electronics

We're so good at -- and obsessed with -- technological innovation for applications both frivolous and mundane. Yet, we're so bad at deploying our ample resources -dollars and brainpower -- against a disease that devastates close to a quarter million families every year.

Go into any consumer electronics or appliances store and you will be dazzled by the technological innovation. It's all so head-spinning that I need to take a Dramamine before going to the Apple Store.

Our new fridge? It's probably good for 20 years. Plus, the ice cube dispenser knows exactly how many ice cubes I take in my Diet Coke. The picture on my HDTV is so clear that I saw shaving cream in Brian Williams' ear the other night and, even as I write this, the cell phone in my jacket pocket is secretly capturing the inner-most thoughts of the guy sitting next to me on the train. I may be exaggerating, but not by much.

Finally, consider this -- last year, Apple spent $1.8 billion on R&D (Microsoft spent more than four times that amount) Want to know what the National Cancer Institute spent researching lung cancer, the number #1 cancer killer by a factor of three -- about $282 million.

We can communicate globally without concern for time or distance, access the world's libraries from our desktops, tap orbiting satellites to map the most routine trip, and short gold with a swipe on our phone. We've made a Jackass movie in 3-D -- and there are smartphone applications that fight acne. But we can't figure out how to diagnose lung cancer early, or why non-smoking women are getting cancers in record numbers, or how to boost overall lung cancer survivability from a mere 15%?

Something is badly off in our world. Shameful, actually. There's an app for that. It's called compassion.

For more information or to support lung cancer research and advocacy, please visit one or more of the following sites: Uniting Against Lung Cancer, OneBreath, The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation, National Lung Cancer Partnership, or the Lung Cancer Alliance

Request for Services: Complete Audio/Video Equipment and Service for 02/25/2012

2011-08-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, February 25th, 2012, we will proudly produce our FIFTH ANNUAL "Dancing for Joan" fund raiser for the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute.

We are currently looking for complete audio and video equipment and services for our event. (Sound sytem/amp/mixing board/3 or 4 large, flat screen monitors, etc.) The vendor who had so graciously donated their equipment and services in the past is no longer in the equipment business. We are very thankful for their support.

We would be extremeley grateful for an in-kind donation of one day's equipment rental and services for a great cause.

If you or someone you know can provide such services and would be willing to volunteer, please call us at (404) 987-0792 or send an e-mail to gaetafund@gmail.com.

Thank you very much!

(Please spread the word! Repost, Retweet, e-mail......)

"The Day I Found Out" by Bonnie Addario #lungcancer

2011-08-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

As we keep stating, we are very proud to be an affiliate of The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation and to be raising funds for their lung cancer research arm, ALCMI.

What you will see and hear in the video below is a big reason why. Here is Bonnie's story. Please take a moment an watch this video.

www.twitter.com/thedayifoundout
www.twitter.com/bonniejaddario
www.twitter.com/forjoan

New Fighters in the War Against #LungCancer!

2011-08-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

Our friends down in Macon, Georgia, Abby's Dream, have officially formed The Abby's Dream Foundation!

Check them out here. Spread the word!

Screening Trial Offers Hope Against Lung Cancer [Metro Atlanta, Georgia]

2011-08-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

by Vicki Griffin
Originally published at ajc.com on July 29th, 2011

Lung cancer is the deadliest of all cancers, claiming more lives each year than breast, colon, kidney, liver and melanoma cancers combined. That’s largely because lung cancer is only rarely detected at the earliest and most treatable stages. Dauntingly, when lung cancer is discovered, symptoms are present and the disease has metastasized beyond the lungs.

Currently, only 15 percent of lung cancer patients live five years or more once the cancer is uncovered and treated. The bleak bottom line is that lung cancer overwhelmingly terminates lives within months of the initial diagnosis. But these harrowing statistics may become past tense as the National Lung Cancer Screening trial sheds new light on previously dark diagnoses.

The five-year study, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, followed more than 53,000 high-risk participants in 25 states, including Georgia, and compared the effectiveness of standard chest X-rays to low-dose helical multiple-image CT scans in detecting lung cancer at the earliest stages.

Adenocarcinomas were discovered in the early, more treatable stages in the trial, and as a result reduced the number of lung cancer deaths in high-risk current and former smokers by a stunning 20 percent.

Emory University conducted the trials in Georgia. And the downtown campus, Midtown and Emory Johns Creek Hospital locations will screen heavy and former smokers over age 50 beginning Monday for a cost of about $325.

WellStar’s Kennestone Hospital and suburban locations in Marietta and Dallas also have low-dose spiral computed tomography technology facilities and provide the screening tests for $270 to those considered high-risk.

Insurance does not cover screening, but for those with symptoms or when prescribed as medically necessary, insurance may cover them as diagnostic tests.

The low-dose spiral CT scans are rapid and noninvasive and subject patients to roughly the same amount of radiation as the standard mammography used to detect breast cancer. Also, false positives can be confirmed with follow-up CT scans that show no change over time.
It is hoped that pressure and demand will induce insurers to cover screenings soon. Also to be determined would be the inclusion of other groups who may benefit, such as light smokers and young smokers.

Most smokers begin the addictive habit before they are 18 years old, when they are not old enough to know better and are more quickly hooked. Over their lifetimes, smokers from the senior class of 2002 alone will put a projected $22.9 billion into the pockets of cigarette manufacturers.

Lung cancer kills more people than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined, yet routine screening is covered for all but lung cancer. Health care costs must be contained, but late stage lung cancer treatment is more costly than early. And given their culpability, doesn’t it seem reasonable, responsible and right to require that a portion of tobacco company profits be used to cover the medical costs their products cause their consumers?

Copyright 2011, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Thanks, Gwen!

2011-07-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

www.gwenhughes.com
www.divaswithacause.com
www.dancingforjoan.com
www.nobodydeservesit.com

Check out the latest about lung cancer in the news....

2011-07-14T05:51:00.001-07:00

http://www.lungcancerheadlines.com/

Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation Lectureship Aware Goes to William Pao, MD, PhD

2011-07-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

San Francisco, July 6, 2011/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF) today announced the winner of the 2011 Addario Lectureship Award, which each year recognizes luminaries in the quest to eradicate Lung Cancer. The recipient will be honored at the 12th International Lung Cancer Congress in Carlsbad, California to be held on August 11-14, 2011.

2011 Addario Lectureship Award —The recipient of the 2011 Addario Lectureship award is William Pao, MD, PhD. Dr. Pao is a physician-scientist with a special interest in thoracic oncology. Dr. Pao’s research focuses on identification of genes involved in the pathogenesis of lung tumors and stratifying tumors into clinically relevant molecular subsets. Using information derived from these experiments, Dr. Pao seeks to improve treatment for patients with non-small cell Lung Cancer. His research has yielded important insights into mechanisms of lung tumor sensitivity and resistance to inhibitors of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).

Dr. Pao is the author of over 50 publications, is actively involved in numerous professional associations including the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and has served as a journal editor for PLoS Medicine, Cancer Research, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Research Specialty
The Pao Laboratory, at the School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, aims to perform translational research in the area of solid tumor biology, using Lung Cancer as a paradigm. The overall goal is to develop molecularly-tailored treatments for patients with Lung Cancer. As further recognition of his many contributions to the field, the Fourth Annual Addario Lectureship Award belongs to Dr. Pao not only for his tireless efforts and brilliant strategies to advance BJALCF’s mission to increase the survival of Lung Cancer, but also for his focus on discovering and elucidating other mechanisms of sensitivity and resistance to EGFR inhibitors in Lung Cancer. Dr. Pao recently showed that in drug-sensitive mutant Lung Cancer cells, induction of the BH3-only polypeptide BIM (also known as BCL2-like 11) is essential for apoptosis (cell death) triggered by EGFR inhibitors.

What does Dr. Pao’s Work Mean for BJALCF Patients?
Dr. Pao is relentlessly seeking to identify ways to overcome resistance to gefitinib (Iressa) and erlotinib (Tarceva) and crizotinib for ALK fusion positive patients. For patients with today’s advanced-stage Lung Cancer, these three drugs have often been called the “miracle drugs.” In laymen’s terms, these miracle drugs inevitably stop working at some point, and hope for continued survival runs out. Dr. Pao is on a fast track working to overcome acquired resistance to these drugs and to extend life even further. In concert with the vision of BJALCF and its founder, Bonnie J. Addario, “On behalf of all of our patients, we believe Dr. Pao is a strategist concentrating each and every day on Round 2 in the boxing match against Lung Cancer. We are encouraged by the hope Pao’s research exhibits for breakthrough success in the longest boxing match—which according to history has gone 110 rounds, in 1893. May Lung Cancer become too exhausted to continue. We’ll take Round 2, for now.”

2008 Recipient:
Paul A. Bunn, Jr. MD, Principal Investigator and Director, University of Colorado Cancer Center

2009 Recipient: Harvey Pass, MD, BA, Director of the Division of Thoracic Surgery and Chief of Thoracic Surgery, New York University Medical Center

2010 Recipient: David R. Gandara, MD, Associate Director, Clinical Research, UC Davis Cancer Center

About the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF)
BJALCF is THE patient-founded, patient-focused voice relentlessly working to increase the survival of Lung Cancer worldwide through early detection, awareness and funding for research. BJALCF was established in 2006 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and has raised over six million dollars for Lung Cancer Research. Contact: Sheila Von Driska, Executive Director, sheila@lungcancerfoundation.org 415.357.1278

lungcancerfoundation.org

Please take a moment and "Like" this page...

2011-07-05T05:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.stayclassy.org/stories/legacy-of-collegiate-athlete-with-lung-cancer-inspires-young-adults

Lung Cancer Controversy Extinguised: CT Scan Versus X-Ray: CT Scan Wins!

2011-06-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

Originally published by The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundaton (BJALCF) on June 30th, 2011. The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund is a proud affiliate of BJALCF, raising money for its research institute, ALCMI.

San Francisco-June 29, 2011–The New England Journal of Medicine’s (NEJM) headline today read, “Reduced Lung Cancer Mortality with Low-Dose Computed Tomographic CT Screening,” ending a long controversy over the use of an existing but underutilized early detection tool for those at risk for Lung Cancer. Preliminary results of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) were first released on November 4, 2010 and confirmed today. The study of more than 53,000 people who either once smoked or currently smoked found there were 20 percent fewer deaths among those who underwent annual screening with a scanning procedure known as a low-dose helical computed tomography (CT) compared with those who got standard chest X-rays. Click here to read the full article in NEJM.

The findings were so striking that the National Cancer Institute, which helped sponsor the study, halted the eight-year trial early after a panel of experts notified officials about the clear results of an interim analysis and Dr. Varmus released the preliminary results immediately. “Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality in the U.S. and throughout the world, so a validated approach that can reduce lung cancer mortality by even 20 percent has the potential to spare very significant numbers of people from the ravages of this disease,” said Varmus.

The long-anticipated results were in concert with what the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation has advocated since its inception, in March 2006.

Bonnie J. Addario, Founder of BJALCF and ALCMI, commented, “This is fantastic news. We knew this, and generated long overdue attention with our national PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN to Demand a CT Scan, and our Comprehensive Lung Cancer Screening Program four years ago, which fueled this conversation. Today’s NLST study results support and confirm our intellectual, scientific, personal and practical mission to significantly increase the survival rate for Lung Cancer for the first time in forty years.”

“This is a landmark study and a landmark day for millions of people at risk for Lung Cancer,” said David Jablons, MD, Professor and Chief of Thoracic Surgery, University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and co-founder of the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF). “This study vindicates numerous pioneering investigators worldwide who have advocated for the utility and benefit of low-dose spiral CT scans for the early detection of Lung Cancer. The results announced today in the New England Journal of Medicine lay to rest the question of using the low-dose spiral CT scan for the at-risk population. CT scans can save lives. It is our hope that third-party payors and insurers will embrace these results which will lead to more screening, a new standard of care and most important, saving lives.”

Scott Santarella, BJALCF’s President and CEO, former President and CEO of the American Lung Cancer Association in New York and former COO of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) and Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC), stated, “Today's announcement validates our belief in utilizing the tools available to the lung cancer community to diagnose patients as early as possible because we know it saves lives.”

Bonnie J. Addario is a seven-year Stage IIIB CT-scanned Lung Cancer Survivor. She, BJALCF and ALCMI will be presenting at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 14th Annual World Conference in Amsterdam on July 5, 2011. BJALCF and ALCMI are the only non-profit lung cancer foundations ever to have been invited as guests to present a Satellite Symposium at an IASLC World Conference. The Symposium is entitled, “The Way Forward.”

About the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF)
BJALCF is THE patient-founded, patient-focused voice relentlessly working to increase the survival of Lung Cancer worldwide through early detection, awareness and funding for research. BJALCF was established in 2006 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and has raised over six million dollars for Lung Cancer Research. Contact: Sheila Von Driska, Executive Director, sheila@lungcancerfoundation.org 415.357.1278

About the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI)
ALCMI was established in 2008 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the ultimate goal of significantly impacting survival by catalyzing and accelerating discovery of new and more effective treatment options for all lung cancer patients.
Contact: Steven Young, President, syoung@alcmi.net 203.247.9035

About The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund
A lifelong non-smoker, Joan Gaeta was a devoted wife, teacher, and mother of five. Diagnosed with Lung Cancer in early 2004, she fought a three and a half year battle before succumbing in July of 2007.

During that time, Joan stressed the need for greater awareness of Lung Cancer, the number one cancer killer in the world, which has a very low survival rate and a tragic lack of research funds. She was most passionate about eliminating the stigma of the disease, since lung cancer also strikes non-smokers at a high rate.

The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund was created in the fall of 2007 as The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation by her husband and children to raise awareness of the disease, to educate the public, and to be an advocate for research. We also strive to eliminate the stigma of lung cancer and to support survivors and their loved ones in our local community.

In July of 2010, they re-launched as The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund benefiting the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute. Their ultimate goal remains the same: “to eradicate lung cancer.” By partnering with one significant research initiative, they can make a much greater impact in wiping out lung cancer.
Contact: gaetafund@gmail.com or (404) 987-0792

Our Cause...

2011-06-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund is a proud affiliate of The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundaton and is honored to help raise money for ALCMI.

Please watch this important video.

The Divas are on Atlanta TV

2011-06-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

Look for the Divas on WXIA-Ch. 11 tomorrow, "Atlanta & Co" -- 11 am, June 14. And then again June 19, WSB's "People 2 People" at 6:30 am. The concert is a powerhouse, tickets are moving fast...The Buckhead Theatre and Gwen Hughes appears on behalf of The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund.

They are Divas with a Cause!

Jill's Legacy: Please watch an important and very inspirational video feature from ESPN.

2011-06-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

The video can be found here: http://jglcf.org/JillCostello.aspx

This ESPN feature profiles of 22-year-old college student and athlete at U.C. Berkeley, Jillian Costello, who lost her battle with lung cancer in June of 2010, just one year after being diagnosed.

Jill's story is an inspirational one that you do not want to miss. Please consider sharing this with friends and family.

http://www.jillslegacy.org/
http://www.thelungcancerfoundation.org/
http://www.forjoan.org/

Symptom Clusters in Lung Cancer Patients: A Research Study Approved by the Virginia Commonwealth University Institutional

2011-06-08T05:31:00.000-07:00

You are invited to participate in a research study examining common symptoms experienced by lung cancer patients (discomfort in breathing, anxiety, depressive symptoms, fatigue, and pain) and how these symptoms affect quality of life and ability to perform routine daily activities.

If you choose to participate you will be asked to complete an online survey that takes about 20 minutes. You are eligible to participate in this study if you are age 21 or older and have been diagnosed with lung cancer.

There are no costs for participating other than the time you spend completing the survey. No information will be collected that will reveal your identity.

If you would like to participate in this study, please click on the link below.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BMZFLGZ

Official Press Release: Divas with a Cause

2011-06-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

C’Quinz Entertainment, LLC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR Contact: Karen Hatchett

770-433-1137

Karen.Hatchett@mindspring.com

BENEFIT CONCERT TO RAISE AWARENESS & FUNDS FOR LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS

Seven Vocalists, Seven Causes, One Amazing Night of Music!

SMYRNA, GA ( June 3, 2011) --- On Sunday, June 19 seven of Atlanta’s top female vocalists: Sandra Hall, Theresa Hightower, Melanie Massell, Toni Redd, Gwen Hughes, Claiborne and Maryline Blackburn will come together to perform as DIVAS WITH A CAUSE in order to inspire, educate and raise funds for causes that are important to each of them. These strong, caring and independent women will perform in concert to support the following organizations: Shepherd Center Foundation, The Kidney Foundation, Doris Shaheen Breast Health Center, The Valerie Fund, Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund, Humane Society of Forsyth County, and Alzheimer’s Association of Georgia. Make plans now for an incredible night of music on Sunday, June 19 at 5:30 pm at The Buckhead Theatre. Tickets are on sale at www.divaswithacause.com, The Buckhead Theatre (Thursday & Friday from Noon- 4 pm), or by calling (678) 653-3061.

“Shepherd Center is honored to have been selected by Melanie Massell as a beneficiary of this wonderful event,” says Bonnie Hardage, Shepherd Center Director of Major Gifts. “Support from the community has a direct impact, everyday, on restoring hope and rebuilding the lives of our patients. We are grateful to be included in this effort to not only build awareness about the wonderful work of seven charities, but also celebrate the beautiful talents of seven amazing ladies as they give of their time and talents to do good for so many in our community. “

Through music, the universal language, these organizations will benefit from the philanthropic efforts of these women. “It is indeed an honor to be part of such an incredible fundraising collaboration of talented female vocalists,” states Maryline Blackburn, the former Miss Alaska who beat Sarah Palin in the 1984 Miss Alaska Scholarship Pageant.

This event promises to be a night filled with Life, Love and Laughter. Porsche Foxx, founder of the Porsche Foxx Community Force, enthuses, "It's exciting to see this group of talented ladies focus on the community and provide an explosive night of entertainment!"

Joe Gaeta, President of The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund, says, "The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund is very grateful that the 'Barefoot Diva' Gwen Hughes chose our organization to support. We are excited to be a part of DIVAS WITH A CAUSE and are confident that it will bring awareness not just to our lung cancer fund, but to all the worthwhile causes represented.”

In 2010 The Roxy Theater, an Atlanta landmark, was renamed The Buckhead Theatre and renovated to reclaim the magic and dazzle of its jazz-era beginnings. Central to Buckhead nightlife for more than 80 years, The Buckhead Theatre is steeped in the lively spirit of its history, yet fully modernized to accommodate today’s multifaceted forms of entertainment and special events. The restorative vision for this magical Atlanta landmark is credited to R. Charles Loudermilk. The Buckhead Theatre is located at 3110 Roswell Road (near the intersection of Roswell Road & Peachtree Road).

Tickets to DIVAS WITH A CAUSE are: $30 in advance, $40 at the door, and $75 VIP. * VIP tickets include special seating, an after-show reception with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, and a “Meet and Greet” with the DIVAS! To purchase advance tickets visit www.divaswithacause.com, The Buckhead Theatre (Thursday & Friday from Noon-4 pm), or call (678) 653-3061.

###

DIVAS WITH A CAUSE is produced by C’Quinz Entertainment. Founded in 1993, C’Quinz Entertainment, LLC has provided a variety of quality entertainment for public, private, national & international events, as well as profit and non-profit organizations.

For additional information, photos, or to schedule an interview with the DIVAS, please contact Karen Hatchett at Hatchett Marketing & PR: 770-433-1137 or Karen.Hatchett@mindspring.com

Watch ESPN on June 5th at 10:40am Eastern Time for an Inspiring Story!

2011-06-02T13:12:00.000-07:00

*** 6/3 UPDATE: Please note time correction.
*** It will air at 10:40am Eastern on June 5th.

As you know, The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund is a very proud affiliate of The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. Our fundraising efforts support their lung cancer medical institute, ALCMI.

All of us at the Gaeta and Addario organizations encourage you to tune into ESPN on June 5th at 10:40am Eastern during SportsCenter. They will be airing an incredible feature story entitled Wave and Wake. The story chronicles the life of The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation's ambassador and champion Jillian Costello’s winning spirit and courageous battle with lung cancer.

The documentary is produced by award-winning Benjamin M. Webber and his ESPN Crew. The segment will air again immediately following ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball game.

At only 22, Jill lost her one-year battle with lung cancer, but pledged to "beat lung cancer big time" for all people. Learn more about how Jill’s indomitable spirit carries on in the troops of college-aged and young adult supporters who are staging powerful fundraisers across the country to make a difference.

www.jillslegacy.org
www.bjalcf.org
www.forjoan.org

The Stigma: Why Are Lung Cancer Patients Treated Differently Than Other Cancer Patients?

2011-05-03T08:59:00.000-07:00

by Lynne Eldridge MD
Originally Published at About.com on July 12, 2010
Updated July 12, 2010

Being diagnosed with lung cancer carries a certain stigma.

”How long did you smoke?” “I didn’t know you were a closet smoker.” “Too bad he didn’t quit smoking sooner.” Unlike the unconditional support given to those with other forms of cancer, people with lung cancer often feel singled out, like somehow they “deserve” to have cancer. Where does this stigma come from?

Public Perception of a Diagnosis of Lung Cancer

There is a feeling among the general public, that lung cancer is a self-inflicted disease. Smoking is responsible for 80 to 90% of lung cancers, but let’s put this in perspective: Twice as many women die from lung cancer in the United States each year as die from breast cancer, and 20% of these women have never touched a cigarette. Even for those who smoke and develop lung cancer, why do we attach such a stigma to them? Many cancers, and other chronic diseases, are related to lifestyle choices. We don’t seem to judge as harshly those who overeat, are sedentary or sunbathe extensively.

Physicians’ Attitude Regarding Lung Cancer

Physicians are people too, and the bias we see among the public is present in the doctor's office as well. Joan Schiller, MD, the President and Founder of National Lung Cancer Partnership, and a physician who has done a lot of research on the stigma of lung cancer, surveyed primary care physicians in Wisconsin with some saddening results. Though the physicians stated that the type of cancer was not a factor in their referral decisions, results showed that:

When hypothetical patients were presented as having advanced cancer, physicians were less likely to refer lung cancer patients to an oncologist than they were to refer breast cancer patients.
More physicians were aware that chemotherapy improves survival in advanced breast cancer than with advanced lung cancer.
Breast cancer patients were more likely to be referred for further therapy, whereas lung cancer patients were often referred only for symptom control.

Lung Cancer Patient’s Perceived Stigma

Those who are diagnosed with lung cancer experience more embarrassment than those with prostate or breast cancer, and individuals tend to feel stigmatized whether they smoked or not. Some people have even concealed their diagnosis leading to negative financial consequences and lack of social support.

Funding for Lung Cancer Research vs Other Cancers

Sadly, even though lung cancer kills more people than breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer combined, federal funding lags behind. Funding from the private sector also pales in comparison to fund-raising efforts for some other cancers.

Clearly, lung cancer carries a stigma that extends from the government down to the individual. That said, we won’t move forward by pointing the finger and blaming ourselves, physicians, the public and the government. Each of us can make a difference by supporting those with lung cancer as we would support someone with any other form of cancer. Whether you are a lung cancer survivor, the loved one of someone living with lung cancer or a professional working with those with lung cancer, we need to raise awareness. Those living with lung cancer need and deserve our care and support, not an evaluation of the possible causes.

Sources:
- Chapple A, Zieband S, McPherson A. Stigma, shame, and blame experienced by patients with lung cancer: qualitative study2. British Medical Journal. 2004. 328(7454).
- LeConte NK, Else-Quest NM, Eickhoff J, Hyde J, Shiller JH. Assessment of guilt and shame in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer compared with patients with breast and prostate cancer3. Clinical Lung Cancer. 2008. 9(3):171-8.
- Wassenarr TR, Eickhoff JC, Jarzemsky DR, Smith SS, Larson ML, Shiller JH. Differences in primary care clinicians’ approach to non-small cell lung cancer patients compared with breast cancer4. Journal of Thoracic Oncology. 2007. 2(8):722-8.

Biodesix Supports Unique Lung Cancer Initiative (ALCMI)

2011-04-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

CASTLE STUDY ENROLLS SUBJECTS

Posted April 29, 2011 on www.bjalcf.org.

BROOMFIELD, Colo., April 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Biodesix announces the enrollment of initial subjects into CASTLE, the inaugural study of the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI, pronounced as “Alchemy”). The CASTLE (Collaborative Advanced Stage Tissue Lung Cancer) study is recruiting a minimum of 250 subjects over two years among academic and community medical centers in the United States. The study collects biospecimens and data from lung cancer patients in order to facilitate and accelerate the development and delivery of diagnostic tests and treatments tailored to the individual patient. As part of the study, Biodesix is performing VeriStrat® testing on eligible patients and serving as ALCMI’s biorepository for all serum samples collected from CASTLE study subjects for future research. VeriStrat is a serum proteomic test for advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients that helps physicians determine if a patient should receive treatment with a drug called erlotinib.

Biodesix is committed to advancing the field of personalized medicine by developing unique and clinically useful diagnostic tests in oncology. This collaboration is the first of its kind in bringing together leading lung cancer scientists in the U.S. and Europe, patient advocates, and diagnostic laboratories to collect biospecimens with the intent of developing personalized therapies and tests that could improve patient outcomes. “We are pleased to offer the only serum-based testing for the CASTLE study and play an integral role in this collaboration” commented Paul Beresford, Biodesix’ Vice President in charge of the company’s laboratory operations. “We look forward to supporting our ALCMI colleagues in their efforts to accelerate translational medicine in lung cancer and continuing to shift the standard of care toward widespread use of molecular testing in clinical decision-making.”

About NSCLC: As reported by the American Cancer Society, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the US. NSCLC represents approximately 87% of lung cancer. An estimated 215,000 new cases of lung cancer and 162,000 deaths due to lung cancer occurred in the US in 2008. Treatment options include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and targeted biological therapies such as bevacizumab (Avastin®) and erlotinib (Tarceva®). Less than 5% of advanced NSCLC patients survive for 5 years, emphasizing the need for improved patient selection to maximize drug efficacy.

About VeriStrat: VeriStrat is a proteomic serum test for patients with advanced NSCLC. The test identifies patients who are likely to have good or poor outcomes after treatment with epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors (EGFRIs). Samples are processed in Biodesix’ CLIA accredited laboratory and results are typically reported within 72 hours of sample shipment. VeriStrat has been validated in clinical studies with over 1500 patients. Biodesix is engaging in additional studies to further validate the test and to explore the clinical utility of VeriStrat in other solid epithelial tumors and with other EGFRIs. For more information on VeriStrat or to order VeriStrat, visit www.VeriStratSupport.com or call the VeriStrat Support Hotline at 1-866-432-5930.

About Biodesix: Biodesix is a fully integrated molecular diagnostic company developing products that support excellence in clinical decision making and improve patient care. The Company’s goal is to give physicians more information to understand the patient and their disease. Understanding the clinically meaningful information contained within each patient’s molecular profile leads to better care and better outcomes. The Company’s unique approach is based on ProTS®, proprietary technology which exploits the power of mass spectrometry and enables the discovery of specific molecular profiles that can be used to better characterize the patient and their disease. Biodesix collaborates with investigators to address key clinical questions, and partners with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies for development of companion diagnostics and improved targeting of therapies in clinical trials. For more information about Biodesix, please visit the Company’s website at www.Biodesix.com

This press release contains statements that are hereby identified as “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the safe harbor provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on management’s current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results and performance could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including, without limitation, the Company’s inability to further identify, develop and achieve commercial success for products and technologies; the risk that the Company’s financial resources will be insufficient to meet the Company’s business objectives; uncertainties relating to the regulatory approval process and changes in relationships with strategic partners. We disclaim any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Biodesix

Woman offers new take on lung cancer

2011-04-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

by Amanda Korman
Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, MA

Originally published at www.berkshireeagle.com on Monday April 25, 2011

PITTSFIELD, MA -- The link between cigarettes and lung cancer helped launch the anti-smoking movement, but according to one local woman, it also spurred a stigma around those who have the often deadly disease -- tobacco users or not -- and she is working on the Web to turn that attitude around.

"People don't want to talk about lung cancer because it's the taboo cancer," said Christine Dwyer of Becket. "Everyone considers it the smoker's cancer, and it isn't."

The founder of www.cancergrief.com and, more recently, a site, blog and Facebook page under the header "Make Some Noise for Lung Cancer Awareness," Dwyer, 45, watched a step-grandfather, step-father and close friend die from lung cancer -- some smokers, some not. Now, she uses online tools to spread the word that not everyone with lung cancer used tobacco -- and even those that did should not be made to believe that they deserve their illness.

"My stepfather smoked like a chimney and died at 72. [My friend] Brad never touched a cigarette in his life and he died at 31," Dwyer said. "Lung cancer doesn't discriminate."

Dwyer has met people who are ashamed to tell others about their disease, fearing they'd be implicitly blamed with the question, "Well, were you a smoker?"

"That's really a rude question, and it's very offensive in the lung cancer community," Dwyer said. "Smoking puts you at risk, and no one is going to argue that fact, but the fact is there are so many chemicals in the air and water that anybody who breathes is at risk."

More people in the U.S. die from lung cancer than from any other type, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2007, more than 200,000 people were diagnosed with the disease and almost 160,000 died because of it.

Dwyer's Facebook group has more than 2,400 members and several websites she created are well-trafficked, she said. The sites are a compilation of news and medical updates about lung cancer; Dwyer pointed out that she's careful not to dispense medical advice.

Online medical resources can sometimes add to the confusion of a new diagnosis, said Kathy Hart, director of care navigation at Berkshire Medical Center, who said she meets many people who feel swamped by the variety of suggestions or proclamations made about their disease on the Web.

"There's so much information out there that sometimes it can be misleading or not applied to the patient, and can get the patient into an overwhelming state very quickly," she said.

But sites like "Make Noise for Lung Cancer Awareness," which Dwyer tries to be less about prescription and more about emotional support, can offer solace to people feeling isolated by their new illness.

Diagnosed with lung cancer in 2008, Barbara LeRiche, 44, of Guilford, Conn., said Dwyer's online community was a way not to feel alone when she started her treatments.

"You hear every time about breast cancer, but you don't hear about people with lung cancer," LeRiche said. "So it's just nice to have somebody to be able to talk to, and somebody to be online, and just to have that support and know that you're not going through with it by yourself."

To reach Amanda Korman:
akorman@berkshireeagle.com
(413) 496-6243

Divas with a Cause Concert Information

2011-04-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

ONE NIGHT ONLY

Seven of Atlanta's top vocalists all coming together on one stage to communicate, educate and create awareness for each of their causes through music.

Sunday, June 19, 5:30 pm

The Buckhead Theater (formerly The Roxy)

3110 Roswell Road, Atlanta, GA

General Admission $30 ($40 at door)

VIP $75**
**includes VIP seating, an after show reception with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, and a Meet and Greet with the DIVAS

This will truly be a night filled with LIFE, LOVE & LAUGHTER...and of course, plenty of MUSIC that you cannot miss!

Gwen Hughes, four-time vocalist and band leader for the annual Dancing for Joan lung cancer awareness event will be representing The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund! Thanks, Gwen!

Learn more and purchase tickets at www.divaswithacause.com.

Divas with a Cause! June 19th!

2011-04-26T12:45:00.001-07:00

4-time Dancing for Joan vocalist and band leader, Gwen Hughes, is a Diva with a Cause. She'll be performing on Sunday, June 19th at The Buckhead Theater (formerly the Roxy) in Atlanta, Georgia.

Gwen is representing The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund.

Thanks, Gwen!

More information on the benefit concert coming soon!

The History of "Divas with a Cause"

by Maryline Blackburn

http://www.marylineblackburn.com

http://www.divaswithacause.com

After finding out that my mother was at stage 3 of Renal Failure, Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), I spent two months in Fairbanks, Alaska. I was nursing her back to some normalcy of health and the quality of life to which she was accustomed to living. I found that there was so much more for me to know about Kidney Disease, such as the symptoms, treatments, etc. I figured that if I did not know this, then surely there were other individuals who did not know either. I was appalled to find out that some 1.4 million Georgians suffer with Chronic Kidney Disease. I wanted to be able to share this, and began to think about how I could relay this information. What would truly grab the attention of the millions of individuals who, unbeknownst to them, have CKD knocking on their back door? I thought, well, people know me for singing, so what better way than through music!

As I began to visualize how I could get my message across, it occurred to me that there are other issues that people need to be made aware of, as well. So, what if I did an all female concert with several Atlantans that I have had the opportunity to share the stage with and truly admire? Each performer would be able to represent and bring awareness to a specific cause. Voilà! DIVAS WITH A CAUSE was born!

DIVA: a celebrated female singer, outstanding talent in the world of opera, closely related to that of "prima donna." Derived from the Italian noun "diva," which is a female deity. The basic sense of the term is "goddess," and thus distantly related to the Hindu term "deva."

DIVAS WITH A CAUSE is a group of phenomenal vocalists with a shared vision. Our contribution of time and energy to the community has brought us together to motivate, educate and create more awareness about the causes that are dear to our hearts. We are dedicated to inspiring individuals to learn more about issues that can have detrimental effects on their lives. We want to give back, for as Luke 12:48 states, "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required."

We are Dynamic Intellectual Vivacious Altruistic Singers with causes, who know that knowledge is power! We become more powerful when we share our knowledge about our various causes with others in the hope of giving them the power to conquer or make the necessary changes for a better quality of life.

Welcome to the DIVAS WITH A CAUSE website. We hope and pray that our actions and words will truly speak loudly and clearly to your hearts. We are setting out to make a difference in the lives of those individuals who are affected by these causes.

So, yes we are "DIVAS" ... not "just beCAUSE" but "with a CAUSE." Thank you for visiting DIVAS WITH A CAUSE.

- Maryline Blackburn

Motorcycle Ride for Lung Cancer Awareness

2011-04-24T19:01:00.000-07:00

Premier Fitness
430 Nanuet Mall South
Nanuet, NY
(845) 920-0501
www.premierfitnessny.com

Join Premier Fitness on Saturday, April 30th @ 10am on a Motorcycle Ride for Lung Cancer Awareness, followed by a celebration of life at 1pm at

The Club House Bar and Grille
191 South Main Street
New City, NY
(845) 638-1818

Please join Premier Fitness on Saturday, April 30th, following the motorcycle ride, at the Club House Bar and Grille. Bring your family and friends for good food and fun from 1pm to 6pm as they bring awareness and raise funds for lung cancer Research.

Mention to your server that you came out to support their efforts and the Club House will donate 20% back to The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund benefiting the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute.

All donations are welcome and checks can be made out to:
The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund
860 Johnson Ferry Road
Suite 140-373
Atlanta, Georgia 30342
http://jglcf.org/give.aspx

Abby's Dream Walk - April 30th - Macon, Georgia

2011-04-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

Originally published at www.newscentralga.com
By Michelle Quesada
April 22, 2011

Ever since the Twilight Mom's of Middle Georgia transformed Abby Wilson's room into wolf pack territory, they have gone above and beyond to help this brave 13-year-old girl battling lung cancer.

They hosted a yard sale in early April to raise money to send Abby and her mom to Forks, Washington where the Twilight movies were filmed and now they are planning a walk to make Abby's dream to bring awareness come true.

"We got to know Abby and we just fell in love with her and wanted to do anything that we could do anything that we can do to support her," says Cindy Adrien, Chair of the Twilight Moms of Middle Georgia.

And so the community is coming together to organize a lung cancer awareness walk at Tattnall Square Academy on Saturday April 30th, but Abby's dream doesn't stop there. The Twilight Moms along with others are bringing Booboo Stewart, the youngest wolf in the pack of the Twilight series, to Abby's Dream Walk.

"My best friend Brittney is kind of jealous, but just to know that she'll be with me on that day of the walk is pretty cool and she'll get to meet him too," says Abby Wilson.

Not to mention Abby will get to walk around the track with Booboo Stewart, but the community will alo have a chance to meet him and take photos at the walk and at a meet and greet at Jocks and Jills.

"It's incredible because she says this whole community not just us Twilight Moms, but the community itself, coming behind her and saying 'you're amazing, you're a strong girl," says Adrien.

And Tina Wilson, Abby's mother, is grateful to see this dream come true for her daughter.

"They love her and I know I see that when she walks in the room and they see her and they're like 'oh Abby' and they hug her and they love on her and that means lot,' says Tina Wilson, Abby's mom.

And as for Abby, her room shows that she 'runs with wolves' but now she actually gets to walk with one.

Abby's Dream Walk takes place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Tattnall Square Academy on Saturday April 30th.

The Meet and Greet will take place Friday April 29th at 6:30 p.m. at Jocks and Jills.

Learn more at www.AbbysDream.com!

13-Year-Old Battles Lung Cancer

2011-04-18T06:52:00.000-07:00

Abby Wilson is 13 and has had lung cancer for 4 years! She is a strong and amazing girl! Her family and friends want people to know that lung cancer can affect people of all ages (even 9 year olds!), regardless of whether they have smoked in their life or not. Abby's Dream was formed to hold walks and events to provide awareness and support for her family.

Their mission is to bring awareness that lung cancer affects people of all ages and can affect people regardless if they have ever smoked!

They plan to hold events to provide awareness about lung cancer and to help support Abby's family as they fight this dreaded disease!

The first walk for Abby's Dream is scheduled for Saturday, April 30th at Tattnall Square Academy in Macon, Georgia. Registration is at 9 a.m. with walk beginning at 10:00 a.m. and ending at 1:00 p.m. with closing remarks. Make plans to come out and walk for Abby!

Email: cindyadrien@twilightmomsofmiddlega.com
Phone: 478-951-4311
Website: http://www.abbysdream.com

LUNG CANCER ALLIANCE ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL $12.8 MILLION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH FUNDING FOR LUNG CANCER

2011-04-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

Brings total to date to $47.8 million.

Funding approved in FY2011 budget compromise via the Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program.

WASHINGTON, DC [Thursday, April 14, 2011]--Today, Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) announced that its efforts to secure increased federal research funding for lung cancer achieved another victory as an additional $12.8 million was included in the Department of Defense (DOD) Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) which was part of the FY2011 budget compromise approved by Congress. The President is expected to sign it into law tonight.

The FY 2011 budget compromise plan reduces federal agency budgets by $38 billion and averted a government shutdown.

The $12.8 million in research funding is in addition to $35 million secured to date by LCA since it first established the DOD lung cancer research pipeline in 2009 which targets research for early detection with special emphasis on high risk military.

“We are proud to share that to date we have secured $47.8 million for lung cancer research funding via this investigative pipeline”, said Laurie Fenton-Ambrose, President and CEO of LCA. This has been the focus of our core mission from day one and we will continue these efforts for patients and survivors as well as our research community. I thank our congressional leadership for understanding the need and electing to continue support for this program. "

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among men and women and every ethnic group and among our military who are at an increased risk in comparison to their civilian counterparts. Lung cancer has a 15% 5-year survival rate with the vast majority of cases found late stage. In addition, 80% of those diagnosed with lung cancer today are former or non-smokers.

Military personnel have a higher exposure to lung cancer carcinogens and thus are more susceptible than the general public. The FY2011 language calls for continued research focus on screening and early disease management, especially among high risk military. For more information click here.

Lung Cancer Alliance is the only organization dedicated exclusively to providing patient support and advocacy for all those either living with or at risk for lung cancer. Lung Cancer remains committed to leading the movement to reverse decades of stigma and neglect by empowering patients, elevating awareness and changing health policy.

Follow Lung Cancer Alliance on Facebook: www.facebook.com/lungcanceralliance.

[ Keep up the good work, LCA! ]

Innaugural Dancing for Joan Emcee Holds Seminar About Lung Cancer

2011-04-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

On April 7th, Deborah Morosini, sister of the late Dana Reeve, spoke with the Southwest Georgia Cancer Coalition and Phoebe’s Cancer Center in a seminar called "Out of the Shadows... Women and Lung Cancer."

“Dr. Morosini is well known nationally. She's an expert in lung cancer particularly in women with lung cancer,” says Diane Fletcher, CEO of the Southwest Georgia Cancer Coalition. “Part of the work of the cancer coalition is to bring opportunities for local health care professionals to be able to have access to this type of information without having to leave the area.”

Read the entire story and view the video at http://www.mysouthwestga.com/news/story.aspx?id=602745

Dr. Morosini was the emcee of our inaugural Dancing for Joan event in 2008.

THE JOAN GAETA LUNG CANCER FUND RAISES $15,000 FOR ALCMI

2011-03-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

4th Annual “Dancing for Joan” Gala A Huge Success
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ATLANTA, GA. March 29, 2011: For the fourth consecutive year, The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund’s Annual “Dancing for Joan” event was a huge success, committing $15,000 to international Lung Cancer research through the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALMCI).

CNN Anchor Nancy Grace served again this year as the evening’s emcee for a crowd of more than 200 people who came together on February 26, 2011 at the Pavillion of East Cobb in Marietta, Georgia.

Also returning this year was the event's Honorary Chairman Dr. Paul Scheinberg, Chief of Staff at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta. This year's annual Hummingbird Award for Dedication was presented to Alice Kerber, RN - also of Saint Joseph's Hospital - for her tireless work as a Lung Cancer advocate and oncology navigator.

“We are very excited about the partnership with ALMCI and for what our annual event was able to accomplish,” says Joe Gaeta, president of The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund, and son of the late Joan Gaeta, in whose memory the organization was founded. “We are confident that our supporter’s generous donations will make a deep and immediate impact with ALCMI.”

In July of 2010, the Gaetas announced their formal partnership with The Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute, committing 85 percent of their net proceeds to the excellent work ALCMI is doing. Remaining funds are used in metro Atlanta for an annual awareness campaign and to sponsor the Lung Cancer support group.

“We are deeply thankful to the Gaeta Family for their commitment to ending Lung Cancer in Joan's memory,” says Bonnie J. Addario, founder. “It is with partners like the Gaeta Fund that will allow ALCMI to begin to raise the 'curability' of Lung Cancer in a significant way.”

About The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund
A lifelong non-smoker, Joan Gaeta was a devoted wife, teacher, and mother of five. Diagnosed with Lung Cancer in early 2004, she fought a three and a half year battle before succumbing in July of 2007.

During that time, Joan stressed the need for greater awareness of Lung Cancer, the number one cancer killer in the world, which has a very low survival rate and a tragic lack of research funds. She was most passionate about eliminating the stigma of the disease, since lung cancer also strikes non-smokers at a high rate.

The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund was created in the fall of 2007 as The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation by her husband and children to raise awareness of the disease, to educate the public, and to be an advocate for research. We also strive to eliminate the stigma of lung cancer and to support survivors and their loved ones in our local community.

In July of 2010, they re-launched as The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund benefiting the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute. Their ultimate goal remains the same: “to eradicate lung cancer.” By partnering with one significant research initiative, they can make a much greater impact in wiping out lung cancer.

www.forjoan.org

About The Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI)
The Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI) is dedicated to catalyzing and accelerating the discovery, development and delivery of new and more effective treatment options for Lung Cancer patients.
For more information Contact:

www.alcmi.net

The Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute Launches Unique Lung Cancer Research Initiative

2011-03-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

Innovative international research consortium's first study opens

SAN FRANCISCO, March 28, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI, voiced as "Alchemy") today announced the enrollment of the initial subjects into its inaugural clinical trial known as CASTLE, targeting 250 subjects over two years among academic and community medical centers in the United States. CASTLE stands for Collaborative Advanced Stage Tissue Lung Cancer study.

ALCMI is an innovative, patient-founded non-profit research consortium that facilitates and drives comprehensively contracted collaborations among researchers in academic and community medical centers with the mission of significantly increasing the currently poor survival rates of patients diagnosed with lung cancer.

Approximately 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with lung cancer in 2011, and 1.3 million will die from it, worldwide. In clear contrast to other cancers, the 5-year survival rate of lung cancer (15.5%) has not improved over the past 40 years. More people die from lung cancer than six other top cancers combined—specifically breast, colon, prostate, kidney, liver and melanoma. Among the key contributors to this lack of progress have been the disproportionally low federal investment in research and a lack of meaningful coordination of efforts against lung cancer, resulting in late diagnoses, few and only temporarily effective therapies, and broadly inconsistent standards of care.

Recognizing the imperative for a paradigm shift in the battle against lung cancer, the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF) and leading lung cancer scientists in the U.S. and Europe co-founded ALCMI in 2008 as a standalone, results-focused research consortium. ALCMI pools knowledge, biospecimens and data so as to facilitate and accelerate the development and delivery of much more effective diagnostics and treatments tailored to the individual patient, leading as soon as possible to personalized therapies and vastly improved patient survival rates.

ALCMI has established shared infrastructures including centralized data systems and biorepositories, and has also focused efforts to include community-based physicians and hospitals. The importance is that it brings research to where the patients are most commonly treated. "Tissues from cancer surgeries are usually discarded in community hospitals once a diagnosis is made, quite literally throwing away the ability to go back to retest these tissues as new technologies and treatments emerge," explained Steven Young, President & COO of ALCMI. "CASTLE directs the collection and analysis of tissue and blood that are essential to research and the development of individually tailored therapies."

Although research studies have demonstrated that the genetic (molecular) testing of tumors can help benefit patient outcomes, only a minority of physicians routinely order these tests. "CASTLE is collecting tissue and blood samples from advanced-stage cancer patients to perform molecular tests so clinicians can make informed decisions on best available treatments, such as more effective, targeted drugs rather than nonspecific, too often ineffective and toxic chemotherapy," said David Carbone, MD, PhD, chair of ALCMI's Scientific Leadership Board. "By studying blood and tumor tissue, we can identify and test new genetic markers and detect lung cancer at a much earlier stage, with the goal of developing simple blood tests enabling interventions while the cancer cells are most vulnerable."

Bonnie Addario, advanced stage lung cancer survivor and founder of BJALCF and ALCMI, declared at the launch of CASTLE that "Empowered patients live longer. Our message is simple—we want to live!"

About the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI)

ALCMI was established in 2008 as a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization with the ultimate goal of significantly impacting survival by catalyzing and accelerating discovery of new and more effective treatment options for all lung cancer patients.

Collaborating institutions in the United States include Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, MA), Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian (Newport Beach, CA), Lahey Clinic (Burlington, MA), New York University (NY, NY), University of California Davis (Sacramento, CA), University of California, San Francisco (San Francisco, CA), University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) and Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN); European collaborating institutions include the Catalan Institute of Oncology (Barcelona, Spain) and University of Torino (Turin, Italy)

www.alcmi.net

About the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF)

BJALCF was established in 2006 as a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization and has raised over five million dollars to help improve the survival and quality of life of lung cancer patients.

BJALCF is one of the largest philanthropies and recognized force devoted exclusively to eradicating lung cancer through research, early detection, education, prevention, and treatment. The Foundation works with a diverse group of physicians, organizations, industry partners, individuals, survivors, and their families to identify solutions and make timely and meaningful change.

www.lungcancerfoundation.org

SOURCE Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute

Do you have a Google account?

2011-03-14T08:08:00.001-07:00

If so, you can follow our blog! Check out the column on the right.

Thank You!

2011-03-08T09:45:00.000-08:00

Another year, another GREAT Dancing for Joan fund raiser! THANK YOU to everyone who came out on February 26th to help us in our fight.

A sincere thank you to all those who donated their time, talent, and treasure to this important cause!

Please take some time to view the video below. It was the centerpiece of the formal program from Dancing for Joan 2011.

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The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation Introduces Jill’s Legacy

2011-03-08T06:04:00.000-08:00

[Originally published at www.bjalcf.org on March 7, 2011.]
Group of young adults takes aim at the world’s #1 cancer killer

San Francisco, CA, March 8, 2011/PRNewsire-USNewswire/—The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF), a worldwide leader in efforts to eliminate Lung Cancer, announced today that they have launched the creation of a new Advisory Board made up of 21 promising young professionals who have each been personally touched by Lung Cancer. The Board has been called “Jill’s Legacy” in memorial of the 22-year-old college student and athlete at U.C. Berkeley, Jillian Costello, who lost her battle with Lung Cancer in June of 2010, just one year after being diagnosed.

What’s this group’s mission? Simple: to be the driving force in significantly increasing the stagnant 15.5% survival rate of the world’s number one cancer killer—Lung Cancer.

BJALCF namesake and Chairman of the Board, Bonnie Addario, believes they are just the people to do it, saying,

“I am inspired and extremely hopeful about the message that these incredible young people can send to the world about Lung Cancer. They can unearth the truth about this disease and substantially impact funding for research.”

Echoing Bonnie’s enthusiasm is BJALCF’s President and CEO Scott Santarella, saying, “Our group of young adults is incredibly tech savvy, they have embraced the give-back philosophy and are extremely creative and energetic. I have no doubt they will help us create new initiatives to help Lung Cancer patients and their families.”

With its oldest member just 25-years-old, this Board of empowered young adults is largely made up of Jill’s closest friends and loved ones. Bryce Atkinson, Jill’s long-time boyfriend, will serve on the Executive Committee as President of the Board. Other Executive Committee members include Jessica Morello, Jill’s cousin who will serve as Vice President; Kristina Renda, High School classmate of Jill’s who also lost her father and grandmother to Lung Cancer and will serve as Secretary; K.C. Oakley, Jill’s closest friend at U.C. Berkeley, who will serve as Treasurer; Taylor Bell, a North Carolina-based 24-year-old Lung Cancer survivor herself; Sahil Patel, who lost his mother to the disease and is studying to be a thoracic surgeon in her honor; Darby Anderson, one of Jill’s closest friends who has dedicated her life to the cause; and Elizabeth Button, Jill’s life-long friend who is studying Law in San Francisco.

The Board will also consist of six other committees: Science and Research, “Fun” Raising, Finance, Corporate Sponsorship, Public Awareness and Social Media. Members of each committee are also friends of Jill who want to be part of the elimination of the disease that took their young friend from them too soon.

“Essentially, we want to make a change in the way Lung Cancer is viewed in society and treated in medicine. While other cancers have benefitted from modern science and research and exceeded survival rates of 95%, the survival rate for Lung Cancer hasn’t budged from 15.5% in 40 years. That is unacceptable to us and that’s something we have to change” says Jill’s Legacy Executive Committee member, Kristina Renda.

These young people have all seen first-hand that anyone can get Lung Cancer, not just smokers. Through various educational vehicles and fund-raising efforts, they are out to spread the word.

“They say that wisdom comes with age. I think in this age of information technology, wisdom comes quicker for the younger generations and it comes without past prejudice,” says Sheila Von Driska, BJALCF Executive Director, “The members of Jill’s Legacy have no patience or time for a stigma that has kept Lung Cancer in the shadows for over 40 years. I believe Jill’s Legacy is revolutionizing the way society views Lung Cancer and because of them, we’re going to witness a rapid intelligent change in the survival rate of Lung Cancer.”

For more information, or to invest in Jill’s Legacy, email Sheila Von Driska, Executive Director, Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation at sheila@lungcancerfoundation.org or call 415.357.1278.

Read more about Jillian Costello as seen in Sports Illustrated (Click here).

Jill’s Legacy Advisory Board Members (as of March 8, 2011)
Bryce Atkinson, President
Jessica Morello, Vice President
Kristina Renda, Secretary
K.C. Oakley, Treasurer

Darby Anderson
Gabriel Baumgaertner
Erica Bellis
Taylor Bell
Elizabeth Button
Maggie Eisenberg
Nathan Floyd
Emily Frumberg
Kelcey Harrison
Mihir Kshirsagar
Danielle Michelsen
Siobhan Murphy
Sahil Patel
Alli Paver
Angela Strohbeck
Gianna Toboni
Adeeti Ullal

We now have a LinkedIn profile! Follow us!

2011-03-02T20:40:00.001-08:00

Important Information and Eye-Opening Statistics

2011-03-02T06:01:00.000-08:00

Former Smokers at Risk for Lung Cancer Decades Later
by Lynne Eldridge MD,

Originally published at About.com on March 2, 2011

I'm often surprised by the response I get when I mention that the majority of people who develop lung cancer now are non-smokers. "What? You've gotta be kidding! Where did you hear that?"

Yet it's true. Lung cancer occurs more often in people who've already kicked the habit -- and that act of courage may have occurred well in the past.

A new study gives us numbers to talk about. Researchers looked at over 600 people who were referred for lung cancer surgery and who were asked the question; "Did you smoke, and if so, when did you quit?"

Of these patients 77% had a history of smoking in the past, but only 11% were current smokers. The "average" patient had quit smoking 18 years before the diagnosis of lung cancer. The former smokers were broken down further by how long they had been "smoking abstinent":

14% had been smoke free for less than a year
27% were smoke free for 1 to 10 years
21% were smoke free for 10 to 20 years
16% were smoke free for 20 to 30 years
11% were smoke free for 30 to 40 years
10% were smoke free for 40 to 50 years

The conclusion was that the majority of patients in this group had been smoke free for more than a decade prior to their diagnosis of lung cancer. It is important to note that this was a group that was referred for surgical treatment of lung cancer, and as such, were likely in the earlier stages of the disease.

Why is this important?

Lung cancer is most treatable in the early stages of the disease. Since we don't have a widely available safe and effective screening test at this time, it's important for individuals at risk to be aware of the symptoms of lung cancer.

It's also important as we work to dispel the stigma of lung cancer. How many of us have tactlessly made a comment about smoking to someone newly diagnosed with lung cancer?

Part of me hesitated to write about this study. I don't want to throw a black cloud over current smokers who are trying to quit. Because even if people who smoked in the past are at greater risk than never smokers for developing lung cancer, quitting makes a difference. What do the statistics say about quitting or cutting down upon subsequent lung cancer risk?

What Percentage of Smokers Develop Lung Cancer?

If you smoked at some time in the past (or even if not because never smokers get lung cancer too...), take a minute to become familiar with the symptoms of lung cancer.

_{Source: Mong, C. et al. High Prevalence of Lung Cancer in a Surgical Cohort of Lung Cancer Patients a Decade After Smoking Cessation. Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery. 2011. 6(1):10.}

Some Photos from a Wonderful Evening! Stay Tuned for More News from Saturday Night!

2011-03-01T07:14:00.001-08:00

View the photo album here.

2011 Radio PSA / Dancing for Joan Advertisement

2011-02-22T18:40:00.000-08:00

Sports Radio 790 the Zone in Atlanta
February 22 - 26, 2011

The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation Names Scott Santarella as New President and CEO

2011-02-22T05:43:00.000-08:00

Former President and CEO of the American Lung Association (NY) to Lead Foundation's Worldwide Efforts

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF), a global leader in efforts to eradicate lung cancer, today announced that it has named Scott Santarella as its new President and CEO.

Santarella, former President and CEO of the American Lung Association in New York and former COO of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) and Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC) will step into the previous role of Bonnie J. Addario, who is now Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Santarella brings more than 20 years of experience as a senior executive with a proven track record in innovative marketing, successful management of fundraising, and raising awareness for underfunded diseases and causes. His knowledge of science and research combined with the highest regard to ethics and constituent service has driven his successful track record of raising more than $250 million in his previous leadership roles.

Prior to his senior posts at the MMRF and MMRC, Mr. Santarella was highly successful in several key roles at the Educational Foundation of America, Earthplace, Knights of Columbus and the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. He graduated Cum Laude at the University of Massachusetts with a B.A. in Journalism and completed the Executive Leadership Program at Harvard Business School.

"Our foundation is enormously fortunate to have Scott take the helm," says Bonnie J. Addario, BJALCF founder and lung cancer survivor. "Not only does he bring the depth and breadth of financial and management expertise that will be instrumental in our expansion, he's a fundraising champion. He managed to lift an annual non-profit's combined revenue to 300 percent, while maintaining annual administrative expenses at seven percent. I am proud of what we've built so far, and I am honored to have Scott join our movement at this point in time. I want to see tangible change in the survival rate of lung cancer in my lifetime, and the addition of his leadership experience renews my confidence that this dream will become a reality."

"It's a real honor for me," says Scott, "to have been selected as the President and CEO of BJALCF. I admire and respect Bonnie a great deal and have been a huge fan of the foundation's innovative work and business focus. I am truly looking forward to working with the foundation's team to take the organization to the next level."

"Funding for the Number One Cancer Killer is more than forty years past due," says Sheila Von Driska, BJALCF Executive Director. "With an alarming incidence of lung cancer in never smokers on the rise, it's time to take this bully by the horn and take it down. Scott's experience is a fresh new kick-start for the second round in this worldwide battle. We look forward to letting lung cancer know it's 'game over.'"

About the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF)

BJALCF is one of the largest philanthropies and recognized force devoted exclusively to eradicating lung cancer through research, early detection, education, prevention, and treatment. The Foundation works with a diverse group of physicians, organizations, industry partners, individuals, survivors, and their families to identify solutions and make timely and meaningful change. BJALCF was established in 2006 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and has raised over five million dollars for Lung Cancer.

About the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI)

The Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI) was established in 2008 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the ultimate goal of significantly impacting survival by catalyzing and accelerating discovery of new and more effective treatment options for all lung cancer patients.

SOURCE Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation

Thank You 2011 Dancing for Joan Sponsors

2011-02-21T12:36:00.001-08:00

Please support our generous sponsors: http://jglcf.org/sponsors.aspx

And it's not too late to get tickets for Saturday night! Call (404) 987-0792!

Abby's Dream

2011-02-21T11:52:00.000-08:00

www.AbbysDream.com was created because of a very extraordinary girl named Abby Wilson. Abby is 13 years old and has been fighting lung cancer for FOUR years!

Abby’s Dream was created to bring awareness to lung cancer and that it can affect people of ALL ages - even if they have NEVER smoked or been around people who smoked.

They will hold their first walk on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at Tattnall Academy in Macon, Georgia. Learn more at www.AbbysDream.com.

They also have a Facebook Fan Page at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Abbys-Dream/178387988870449 .

Twilight Moms of Middle Georgia has adopted Abby as their Jay’s Hope Sweetheart and they plan to help do all the legwork involved in planning Abby’s Dream Walk.

For more information, contact Cindy Adrien of Abby's Dream at cindywhiteadrien@gmail.com.

Lung Cancer Alliance Hails Veterans Organizations Call for Pilot CT Screening Programs

2011-02-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

Lung Cancer Alliance Hails Veterans Organizations Call for Pilot CT Screening Programs

Whether They Smoke or Not, Patients Say Lung Cancer Diagnosis Carries a Social Stigma

2011-02-16T05:50:00.000-08:00

The following is a press release from The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS). ONS is a professional organization of more than 35,000 registered nurses and other healthcare professionals committed to excellence in oncology nursing and to leading the transformation of cancer care by initiating and actively supporting educational, legislative, and public awareness efforts to improve the care of people with cancer. ONS provides nurses and healthcare professionals with access to the highest quality educational programs, cancer care resources, research opportunities, and networks for peer support. Learn more at www.ons.org.

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LOS ANGELES, Feb. 11, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Patients with lung cancer, whether they smoke or not, feel stigmatized because their disease is strongly associated with smoking, according to a study released today at the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) 11th National Conference on Cancer Nursing Research. Oncology nurse researcher Janine K. Cataldo, PhD, RN, from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) presented the findings.

The purpose of the study was to develop a valid and reliable measure of lung cancer stigma and to compare the relationships of lung cancer stigma to depression and quality of life in smokers and non-smokers. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for men and women.

One hundred eighty-nine study participants with a lung cancer diagnosis completed online questionnaires. They ranged in age from 20–88 years (mean age = 55 years), 56% were men, 73.8% were partnered, and 14% lived alone. The majority of the participants were Caucasian (85%). Eighty percent of the sample were smokers (current and ex- smokers). Fifty-five percent of the sample met the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale criteria for depression. No significant differences in demographic measures between smokers and non-smokers was observed.

In a factor analysis of the Lung Cancer Stigma Scale four factors emerged. The four subscales include stigma/shame, social isolation, discrimination, and smoking. Lung cancer stigma had a strong positive association with depression in smokers and non-smokers, and a strong negative association with quality of life in smokers and non-smokers

"Perceived lung cancer stigma can be described as the person's awareness of their lung cancer as it relates to social disqualification, limitations in opportunities, and negative changes in social identity," Cataldo said. "Perceived stigma can lead to several negative outcomes including increased levels of psychosocial symptoms and increased severity of physical symptoms."

Smokers and non-smokers experience lung cancer stigma, and as a result they also experience more depression and a diminished quality of life. All patients with lung cancer can benefit from an effective lung cancer stigma intervention.

Study funded by UCSF Academic Senate and National Institute of Nursing Research P30.

The Dr. Oz Show Feature on Lung Cancer

2011-02-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, February 10th, 2011, The Dr. Oz Show dedicated a feature to lung cancer. In our opinion, it is one of the very best media features on the topic. You can check them out online here.

ajc.com's "The Buzz" for Tuesday, February 8th.

2011-02-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

Nancy Grace to host a charity night of dancing

Originally published on ajc.com at 3:38 pm February 8, 2011 by Jennifer Brett.

Nancy Grace and Joan Gaeta never met, but the prosecutor turned television host and author just knows they would have loved each other.

“She was one of the best mothers in the world,” Grace told us during a phone interview. “I only hope I can be as good a mother.”

As she has for several years, Grace will emcee the annual Dancing For Joan fundraiser, benefiting The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund. It’s planned for 7 p.m. Feb. 26 at The Pavilion of East Cobb, 736 Johnson Ferry Road, and tickets start at $150 each.

For tickets or more information see www.dancingforjoan.org.

A lifelong nonsmoker, Joan Gaeta was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2004 and died in 2007. Her husband and children started the annual event to honor her memory and support research efforts.

“She’s a real and vital part of her family even now,” Grace said. “I feel like she’s with us.”

Thursday on The Dr. Oz Show

2011-02-09T10:44:00.001-08:00

Thursday on The Dr. Oz Show

Lung Cancer Leaves No One to Blame

2011-02-08T00:41:00.000-08:00

Nonsmokers with disease face stigma, lack of research funding
Originally published by Susan Jenks in FloridaToday.com on February 7, 2011

A nonsmoker, Connie Brookshier of Cocoa never suspected her persistent cough might be caused by lung cancer.

Neither did Suzanne Davis, a former smoker who quit 18 years ago. The Titusville woman blamed her shortness of breath on being overweight rather than a tumor growing inside one of her lungs.

Each woman illustrates a growing trend, doctors say: a higher incidence of lung cancer among never-smokers, especially younger women, and, in former smokers of both sexes who, like Davis, quit many years ago.

Additionally, emerging evidence suggests lung cancer may develop differently in women and men, with women more susceptible to cancer-causing chemicals not only in tobacco -- still the dominant root cause of most of these cancers -- but also in the environment. For men and women, lung cancer remains the leading cancer killer in the United States, with 86,220 men and 71,080 women expected to die in 2010, according to the American Cancer Society's most recent data.

Despite such statistics, a report out of Harvard-affiliated Brigham & Women's Hospital early last year called lung cancer "the hidden women's cancer," little known, under-funded and rarely discussed. It also is "one of the only cancers where patients are routinely blamed as responsible for their condition."

According to the 27-page document, "Out of the Shadows: Women and Lung Cancer":

Women who've never smoked are at higher risk for developing lung cancer than men who've never smoked.
Women tend to develop lung cancer at younger ages than do men.
Women are more likely to be diagnosed in early stages of this disease than are men.
Women tend to respond slightly better to treatment than men once cancer has been diagnosed.

"So, 'Do you smoke?' should not be the entire sum of risk-factor analysis for lung cancer," said attorney Tracey Hyams, one of the report's co-authors and director of the hospital's women's health policy and advocacy program. "There are other relevant factors, such as whether someone is a former smoker or has been exposed to secondhand smoke."
Dana Reeve, for example, the wife of late actor Christopher Reeve and never a smoker, came from a family of physicians, she said. "Yet none of them ever thought of lung cancer" when she developed her only symptoms, a minor cough and intermittent shoulder pain. Reeve died at 44 just seven months after diagnosis.

"The perception of lung cancer as a woman's health issue is almost nonexistent," said Dana Reeve's sister, Dr. Deborah Morosini, an oncology pathologist with AstraZeneca in Boston.

Many women still fear breast cancer more than lung cancer, Morosini and others said, despite a better five-year survival rate -- 90.1 percent compared with 18.8 percent in lung cancer -- and significantly higher research funding per cancer death.

The National Lung Cancer Alliance estimates the three major federal agencies supporting medical research spend roughly $1,249 in research funding per lung cancer death compared with $27,480 per death for breast cancer research.

Although lung cancer rightly is labeled a smoker's disease, enough nonsmokers die from the disease to make it the sixth or seventh leading cancer killer in the country today, said Dr. Joan Schiller, president of the National Lung Cancer Partnership. And most in this group -- about 15 percent of lung cancers -- occur primarily in younger women who've never smoked.

The advocacy group is made up of physicians and patients' families from across the country, hoping to raise awareness about this disease. Schiller is deputy director at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center's comprehensive cancer center.

Nagging cough

In Brookshier's case, she developed a nagging cough, which her primary care physician treated unsuccessfully with antibiotics for four months, she said. Finally, her daughter Amanda insisted she get a chest X-ray, which showed a spot on her lungs. Further tests revealed inoperable cancer in both lungs and in her lymph nodes, clearly advanced disease.

"I definitely wasn't expecting it," the 53-year-old Brookshier said of her diagnosis. "And at the time, I really didn't understand what stage IV disease meant. I just thought it was the end."

Instead, after seven rounds of chemotherapy between February and August of 2009, Brookshier's cancer is confined to a pea-sized tumor in her right lung, which still is being treated at the Space Coast Cancer Center in Titusville.

"He mixed a good cocktail for me," she said, laughing, referring to the cancer drugs prescribed by the center's medical director, Dr. Richard Levine. Cautiously optimistic about her progress, she's had good support from family and friends, she said, including her daughter, "my event coordinator."

Hormones' role

In his practice, Levine said, he does see more nonsmokers like Brookshier with lung cancer, many of them diagnosed younger than in the past. But sex differences are not part of the decision tree for treatments at this time, he said, and "of no more importance than any other prognostic factor."

The University of Texas' Schiller suggested another theory. Women may metabolize carcinogens differently than men, breaking them down more slowly, she said, with resulting accumulations causing more damage and mutations in their lungs.

So far, at least two genetic mutations have been identified and well defined in lung cancer, with targeted or "smart drugs" beginning to take aim at these molecular changes, according to Dr. Giuseppe Giaconne, chief of the medical oncology branch at the National Cancer Institute.

The most compelling evidence for one molecular change in particular, he said, comes out of the Far East, where women don't smoke, but develop lung cancer anyway. Presumably, he said, that occurs because their husbands do smoke, exposing them to secondhand chemicals in tobacco.

In this population, the women develop abnormally high levels of a protein seen on the surface of lung cancers, which ultimately drives rapid cellular division, the hallmark of all cancer. Although the mutation also occurs in men, the strongest association is in nonsmoking women, Giaconne said, with guidelines for testing in both men and women now under development.

The other mutation is more subtle, he said, and the connection to gender less striking.

Still, "these are just the first molecular targets. We may soon test for many more," Giaconne said. "The technology is more accessible and research is moving forward pretty fast."

No blame

Davis said she smoked for roughly 30 years before quitting 18 years ago, although doctors told her the cancer was not related to her smoking history. As with so many other lung cancer patients, she had no early symptoms, except shortness of breath, which she attributed to being too heavy.

"I got diagnosed on a fluke," she said, describing a trip to her primary care physician for high blood pressure, "normal stuff." Because her breathing was so labored, the doctor recommended a chest X-ray, revealing a mass in her right lung.

Later tests showed the cancer had spread into the sac covering the heart, so it had to be rebuilt when surgeons removed three-quarters of her malignant lung in 2007. For two years, she was cancer-free, she said, before the disease returned in her trachea and the left lung.

This time, Davis, 64, said, she had chemotherapy, followed by stereotactic radiosurgery, a laser procedure that cuts out small tumors, without opening a patient up. After six months, "they told me it was gone again," she said. "It's 2-to-nothing and I'm winning."

Like Brookshier, Davis faces her disease with quiet courage and optimism. Blame, however, is something she fails to understand.

"Even if you did smoke, everybody smoked back then," she said. "Nobody deserves lung cancer; it's an evil disease."

Davis would get no argument from Reeve's sister.

"These patients deserve no less than any other cancer patient," Morosini said. "They need funding, compassion, a lack of stigma and a little better survival."

Additional Facts

Women and lung cancer

Lung cancer kills more women than any other cancer.
Despite a strong association with tobacco, lung cancer incidence is higher in non-smoking women than in non-smoking men. One in five women who develop the disease has never smoked, compared with one in 12 never-smoking men.
Women appear more sensitive to cancer-causing chemicals in cigarettes and in the environment than men.
Genetic markers and hormonal factors may influence the onset of lung cancers, particularly, in women
Once diagnosed, women do better than men for reasons that are not yet clear. One theory is that women's cancers tend to be found earlier, with a higher proportion of women undergoing surgery than men.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Peach Buzz" for Monday, February 7th, 2011

2011-02-07T11:37:00.000-08:00

Get your tickets today!

2011-02-01T18:32:00.000-08:00

www.dancingforjoan.org

Dancing for Joan 2011 Promo / Nancy Grace, HLN / 2-1-11

Looking beyond smoking, lung-cancer activists want early detection and treatment

2011-01-26T06:15:00.001-08:00

by Laura Ungar

This article originally published as a special to The Washington Post on Monday, January 24, 2011.

After battling lung cancer and losing her sister to the disease, Marilyn Martens likes to hear the public-health community rail against smoking.

But she says anti-tobacco messages can't be the sole weapon against America's deadliest cancer; the focus needs to be widened to better emphasize early detection and treatment, too.

"It's really going to have to be all of these things," said Martens, 52, of Rockville, who underwent surgery for lung cancer in 2008. "I think there's a long way to go."

Martens is one of a growing number of lung cancer survivors, victims' relatives and advocacy groups calling for a greater, more comprehensive focus on the disease - similar to the multi-pronged approach to breast cancer.

Lung cancer killed 158,683 people in 2007, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Five-year survival for lung cancer is 15.8 percent, up only slightly from 13 percent 35 years ago.

Doctors said there have been promising developments in treatment and early-detection research in recent years. But awareness of this progress is clouded by the overwhelming role that smoking plays in the disease, many say, an issue reemphasized in a Surgeon General's report last month. The report said that tobacco smoke contains at least 70 chemicals and compounds that cause cancer and that there is no "risk-free level of exposure" to tobacco smoke.

"We have a public-health epidemic that cannot be addressed with stop-smoking alone," said Laurie Fenton-Ambrose, president and chief executive of the Lung Cancer Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington. She said early detection and treatment are also crucial to reducing deaths.

But as they push for more attention to lung cancer, activists face a persistent stigma. "It's hard to digest that lung cancer is seen as the cancer you give yourself," said Martens, who was once a light smoker.

"No one deserves this disease," added Fenton-Ambrose.

Among other obstacles are a dearth of survivors to be voices for the cause and a lack of money. According to the alliance, federal research money for lung cancer from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Defense totaled $218 million in 2010, compared with $1.15 billion for breast cancer.

But survivors said they are learning lessons from breast cancer activists and others who have successfully lobbied for money and attention to their causes. And doctors pointed out that there is plenty of overlap: Research on one cancer often leads to developments in others.

Fenton-Ambrose said she's determined that lung cancer comes out of the shadows. "Our movement for lung cancer has just begun," she said.

State governments are spending $517.9 million in fiscal 2011 to discourage the use of tobacco, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. And the CDC recommends that states should spend far more: $3.7 billion. Federal and state governments have also been raising cigarette taxes; the federal tax is now just over a dollar a pack.

Blame and stigma

Despite recent prevention efforts, adult smoking has plateaued in the past several years after dropping from 42 percent in the mid-1960s. The most recent federal numbers show that 20.6 percent of U.S. adults were cigarette smokers in 2009.

Current lung cancer rates reflect past smoking levels, since lung cancer can take many years, even decades, to develop. Up to 85 percent of cases are linked to smoking, medical experts say, although sometimes the cause is unknown and secondhand smoke, radon and asbestos are also culprits.

"One can actually say we have a better knowledge of how to prevent lung cancer than any other cancer," said Otis Brawley, the chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.

But he said the blame and stigma surrounding the disease is unfair. He said that most people get hooked on cigarettes as impressionable teenagers and that quitting is extremely difficult because nicotine is more addictive than cocaine.

And, he said, those already sickened deserve research that gives them better odds of survival.

"Our approach to lung cancer should not just be anti-smoking research," Brawley said.

Brawley said recent years have brought promising progress on treating the disease. He pointed to Paul Bunn at the University of Colorado Cancer Center outside Denver and his work on lung cancer prognosis and selection of treatment.

Bunn is the principal investigator of his university's specialized program on lung cancer research, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute.

That specialized program is one of a growing number focusing on the disease. In Kentucky, which has the nation's highest rates of lung cancer and ties with West Virginia for the highest smoking rate, a 20-year initiative created by the state legislature funnels a small fraction of the state's tobacco-settlement funds into research. The 1998 multi-state tobacco settlement with tobacco companies has been estimated at $246 billion over the first 25 years. Scientists at the universities of Louisville and Kentucky are working on vaccines for the prevention and treatment of lung cancer, drugs based on novel ways of attacking the disease and new ways of finding it early.

A cure remains distant, scientists said, but early-detection research promises more-immediate benefits. A large study released in November showed that a type of advanced CT imaging can help reduce lung cancer deaths by 20 percent among heavy smokers. The imaging is much more sensitive than the commonly used chest X-ray.

Building momentum

One reason lung cancer remains so deadly is that it's often caught late.

Martens said she was extremely lucky to find her cancer early. Spurred by her sister's diagnosis, with no symptoms except for a tugging in her sternum, Martens had a regular CT scan that found a mass on her left lung. She needed surgery but not chemotherapy or radiation.

"I am the poster child for early detection," Martens said.

Nancy Alvey, a 58-year-old former smoker from Louisville, received a diagnosis of lung cancer about five years ago, after coughing up blood for two days. An X-ray found two spots in and around her right lung. She underwent surgery to remove the upper-right lobe of the lung and several lymph nodes. She suffered infections and needed four rounds of chemotherapy.

Alvey, who is now in remission, agreed with Martens that lung cancer is too often mentioned only in the context of smoking, with early detection and treatment left out of the discussion.

"While smoking is there, it's not the only thing," said Alvey, who works with the Lung Cancer Alliance and has also volunteered to speak with young people about avoiding tobacco. "It's a cancer just like breast cancer, and it deserves the same type of awareness."

Activism for breast cancer offers lessons for those seeking to elevate the cause of lung cancer.

"Our No. 1 strength is our grass-roots network," said Diana Rowden, survivorship and outcomes vice president at Dallas-based Susan G. Komen for the Cure, one of the best-known breast cancer organizations. "That didn't happen overnight. It started at the community level and spread that way."

She said the organization's Race for the Cure has also propelled it forward. The first one was held in 1983 in Dallas and attracted 800 people. In 2010, more than 140 races attracted more than 1.6 million participants worldwide.

"The race is very visible," Rowden said. "People are seeing women are surviving breast cancer and are healthy and active."

Another key is the organization's relationship with corporate partners.

Rowden predicted it wouldn't take decades for the lung cancer movement to reach the level of success of the breast cancer movement because others have helped light a path. She said breast cancer activists learned from AIDS activists who came before them.

Lung cancer activists say their work is starting to pay off.

Fenton-Ambrose said her group now has five state chapters. Among other activities, it has raised more than half a million dollars for research, education, advocacy and treatment through its annual run/walk.

Along with other advocates, the organization pushed for the Defense Department's Lung Cancer Research Program. The initiative was established to promote research on finding, treating and managing early lung cancer after officials concerned about tobacco use among military personnel and about troops' exposure to carcinogens in the field. Congress appropriated $35 million to the program over its first two years, and Fenton-Ambrose hopes an additional $16 million will be appropriated for 2011.

"I think there's a long way to go," said Martens, who has participated in recent lung cancer walks and watched them grow year by year. "But I think there's some momentum."

Ungar is a medical writer at the Courier-Journal in Louisville.

Check Out the Latest Lung Cancer News

2011-01-20T07:41:00.000-08:00

Our news feed can be found here.

Get Your Tickets Today and Come Dancing to Fight Lung Cancer!

2011-01-05T18:20:00.000-08:00

Come out and join us for the Fourth Annual Dancing for Joan!

(Benefiting the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute)

Hosted by TV personality and best-selling author Nancy Grace.

Enjoy a fun night out! Cocktails, dinner, dancing, and silent auction!

Help us raise money for lung cancer research and awareness

as we celebrate the survivors and honor all those who have passed.

Saturday, February 26th, 2011 at 7pm
The Pavilion of East Cobb
736 Johnson Ferry Road, Marietta, GA 30068

$150 per Ticket ~ Cocktail Attire ~ Cash Bar

More information is available at www.dancingforjoan.org.

If you cannot make it, please consider a donation to this important cause.

No amount is too small. Learn more at www.forjoan.org.

The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund
860 Johnson Ferry Rd ~ Ste 140-373
Atlanta, Georgia 30342

(404) 987-0792
A 501(c)3 Tax Exempt Organization

Lung cancer matters, too.

It is time to eliminate the stigma of lung cancer!
Smokers and former smokers do not deserve lung cancer.
And, you do not have to smoke to get it.

It is the #1 cancer killer in the world.

Lung cancer kills more people than breast, prostate, colon, liver, kidney, and melanoma cancers...combined.

30% of all cancer mortality is due to lung cancer.

It kills nearly three times as many men as prostate cancer.

Lung Cancer has been called a "Contemporary Epidemic in American Women", killing nearly twice as many women as breast cancer.

Yet, it receives a mere fraction of the attention and research funding.

Blood Test to Spot Cancer Gets Big Boost from J & J

2011-01-03T06:41:00.000-08:00

Originally Published by The Associated Press on Monday, January 3rd, 2011

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE

BOSTON — A blood test so sensitive that it can spot a single cancer cell lurking among a billion healthy ones is moving one step closer to being available at your doctor's office.

Boston scientists who invented the test and health care giant Johnson & Johnson will announce Monday that they are joining forces to bring it to market. Four big cancer centers also will start studies using the experimental test this year.

Stray cancer cells in the blood mean that a tumor has spread or is likely to, many doctors believe. A test that can capture such cells has the potential to transform care for many types of cancer, especially breast, prostate, colon and lung.

Initially, doctors want to use the test to try to predict what treatments would be best for each patient's tumor and find out quickly if they are working.

"This is like a liquid biopsy" that avoids painful tissue sampling and may give a better way to monitor patients than periodic imaging scans, said Dr. Daniel Haber, chief of Massachusetts General Hospital's cancer center and one of the test's inventors.

Ultimately, the test may offer a way to screen for cancer besides the mammograms, colonoscopies and other less-than-ideal methods used now.

"There's a lot of potential here, and that's why there's a lot of excitement," said Dr. Mark Kris, lung cancer chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He had no role in developing the test, but Sloan-Kettering is one of the sites that will study it this year.

Many people have their cancers diagnosed through needle biopsies. These often do not provide enough of a sample to determine what genes or pathways control a tumor's growth. Or the sample may no longer be available by the time the patient gets sent to a specialist to decide what treatment to prescribe.

Doctors typically give a drug or radiation treatment and then do a CT scan two months later to look for tumor shrinkage. Some patients only live long enough to try one or two treatments, so a test that can gauge success sooner, by looking at cancer cells in the blood, could give patients more options.

"If you could find out quickly, 'this drug is working, stay on it,' or 'this drug is not working, try something else,' that would be huge," Haber said.

The only test on the market now to find tumor cells in blood — CellSearch, made by J&J's Veridex unit — just gives a cell count. It doesn't capture whole cells that doctors can analyze to choose treatments.

Interest in trying to collect these cells soared in 2007, after Haber and his colleagues published a study of Mass General's test. It is far more powerful than CellSearch and traps cells intact. It requires only a couple of teaspoons of blood and can be done repeatedly to monitor treatment or determine why a drug has stopped working and what to try next.

"That's what got the scientific community's interest," Kris said. Doctors can give a drug one day and sample blood the next day to see if the circulating tumor cells are gone, he explained.

The test uses a microchip that resembles a lab slide covered in 78,000 tiny posts, like bristles on a hairbrush. The posts are coated with antibodies that bind to tumor cells. When blood is forced across the chip, cells ping off the posts like balls in a pinball machine. The cancer cells stick, and stains make them glow so researchers can count and capture them for study.

The test can find one cancer cell in a billion or more healthy cells, said Mehmet Toner, a Harvard University bioengineer who helped design it. Researchers know this because they spiked blood samples with cancer cells and then searched for them with the chip.

Studies of the chip have been published in the journals Nature, the New England Journal of Medicine and Science Translational Medicine. It is the most promising of several dozen that companies and universities are rushing to develop to capture circulating tumor cells, said Bob McCormack, technology chief for Veridex.

The agreement announced Monday will have Veridex and J&J's Ortho Biotech Oncology unit work to improve the microchip, including trying a cheaper plastic to make it practical for mass production. No price goal has been set, a company official said, but the current CellSearch test costs several hundred dollars.

The companies will start a research center at Mass General and will have rights to license the test from the hospital, which holds the patents.

In a separate effort, Mass General, Sloan-Kettering, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston will start using the test this year. They are one of the "dream teams" sharing a $15 million grant from the Stand Up to Cancer telethon, run by the American Association for Cancer Research.

Already, scientists have been surprised to find that more cancer patients harbor these stray cells than has been believed. In one study, the test was used on men thought to have cancer confined to the prostate, "but we found these cells in two-thirds of patients," Toner said.

This might mean that cancer cells enter the blood soon after a tumor starts, or that more cancers have already spread but are unseen by doctors.

Or it could mean something else entirely, because researchers have much to learn about these cells, said Dr. Minetta Liu, a breast cancer specialist at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. She led a session on them at the recent San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and has been a paid speaker for Veridex. She hopes the cells will someday aid cancer screening.

"The dream is, a woman comes in for her mammogram and gets a tube of blood drawn," so doctors can look for cancer cells in her blood as well as tumors on the imaging exam, she said.

That's still far off, but Mass General's test already is letting doctors monitor patients without painful biopsies. Like Greg Vrettos, who suffered a collapsed lung from a biopsy in 2004, when he was diagnosed with lung cancer.

"It had spread to both lungs and they couldn't operate," said Vrettos, 63, a nonsmoker and retired electrical engineer from Durham, N.H. Tests from the biopsy showed that he was a good candidate for the drug Iressa, which he has taken ever since. He goes to Boston every three months for CT scans and the blood test.

"They could look at the number of cancer cells and see that it dropped over time. It corresponded with what the scans were showing," Vrettos said of doctors looking at his blood tests.

The test also showed when he had a setback last January and needed to have his treatment adjusted.

"I think it's going to be revolutionary," he said of the test.

The Inspirational Story of Zheng Cao

2010-12-22T07:08:00.000-08:00

ABC's Good Morning America. Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010.

Help create more stories like this one. www.NobodyDeservesIt.com

Lung Cancer News

2010-12-13T05:49:00.001-08:00

Remember, you can stay on top of lung cancer in the news by following our Google Shared items at http://www.google.com/reader/shared/gaetafund.

What We Fund

2010-11-15T11:33:00.000-08:00

Please check this out: http://jglcf.org/MoreALCMI.aspx

Thanks!

Powerful Video. Please Watch.

2010-11-09T21:52:00.000-08:00

Please take six minutes or so to watch this powerful video from the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund is VERY PROUD to be an affiliate of this fine organization.

In February, we will host our fourth annual "Dancing for Joan" fund raiser to raise money for the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI).

We would love to see you there! We are also currently soliciting sponsors for the event, with very affordable sponsorhip packages starting as low as $350 and $500.

If you cannot make it, please consider a donation. NO AMOUNT IS TOO SMALL!

Learn more at www.forjoan.org, www.dancingforjoan.org, and www.nobodydeservesit.org.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Neversmoker Lung Cancer–A Different Disease?

2010-11-09T18:52:00.000-08:00

Lung Cancer in Smokers, Nonsmokers May Be a Different Disease
Tumors in people who never smoked had more genetic abnormalities, study says
By Jenifer Goodwin, HealthDay Reporter

Copyright © 2010 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

MONDAY, Nov. 8 (HealthDay News) — New research suggests that lung cancer in people who have never smoked may be a different disease than it is in smokers.

Scientists compared the genetic characteristics of lung cancer tumors in 30 people who never smoked to tumors in 53 smokers or former smokers.

The tumors of people who had never smoked had twice as many DNA abnormalities as people who were current or former smokers, said study author Kelsie Thu, a doctoral candidate at the British Columbia Cancer Research Centre in Vancouver.

“This is suggesting there might be something different going on with tumors in never-smokers,” Thu said. “If we find out lung cancer in never-smokers is a different disease and we can identify what those differences are, maybe we can design specific therapies that target the genetic alterations in never-smokers and improve the prognosis.”

The study was to be presented Monday at the American Association of Cancer Research’s annual conference, in Philadelphia.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States for men and woman, according to the American Cancer Society. Lung cancer will kill an estimated 157,000 Americans this year.

But it’s not just smokers who get it — lung cancer is the seventh-leading cause of cancer deaths among people who have never smoked, Thu said. Dana Reeve, wife of the late Christopher Reeve, died in 2006 at age 44 from lung cancer. She had never smoked.

Prior research has hinted that lung cancer tumors in never-smokers is different than the tumors in smokers. Compared to former and current smokers with lung cancer, never-smokers with lung cancer tend to be diagnosed younger, are more likely to be women and are more likely to have adenocarcinomas, the most common type of cancer. All of the lung cancer patients in the study had adenocarcinoma.

People who never smoked are also more likely to have a mutation in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene.

“All of those differences are evidence there may be something different going on with their tumors,” Thu said.

The new study confirmed earlier findings that nonsmokers were more likely to have the EGFR mutation, Thu said.

Never-smokers with lung cancer were also less likely to have the KRAS mutation, which has also been shown in prior research.

In smokers, it’s believed that the carcinogens in tobacco and cigarettes cause DNA mutations that lead to the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells, Thu said.

In nonsmokers, the added genetic mutations suggest other mechanisms are driving the tumor growth, Thu said. “We hypothesize there is more genomic instability in the never-smokers than the smokers, and that leads us to believe there may be some other molecular mechanism that is driving the tumor development,” she said.

Dr. David Carbone, a professor of medicine and cancer biology at Vanderbilt University, said the new study supports the idea that cancer in people who’ve never smoked vs. current and former smokers is different.

In never-smokers, the challenge is not only coming up with treatments that target the genetic mutations of their tumor, but in identifying people soon enough to help them, said Carbone, a member of the Lung Cancer Foundation of America’s scientific advisory board.

Nonsmokers tend to take longer to be diagnosed with lung cancer because few suspect they have it, he said.

“We often see never-smokers present with advanced, incurable disease,” he said.

Drugs that target particular genetic pathways have been very successful. Erlotinib (Tarceva), for example, has been shown to extend the lives of lung cancer patients with the EGFR mutation, present in about 10 percent of lung cancers, Carbone said.

SOURCES: Kelsie Thu, Ph.D. candidate, British Columbia Cancer Research Center, Vancouver; David Carbone, M.D., Ph.D., professor, medicine and cancer biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tenn.; Nov. 8, 2010, presentation, American Association of Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention annual conference, Philadelphia.

Lung Cancer AllIance - Georgia "No More Excuses" 5K Lung Cancer Awareness Fun Run and Walk

2010-11-07T17:14:00.001-08:00

Thanks to all those who came out to support this great cause!

CT SCANS REDUCE LUNG CANCER DEATHS! EXCITING NEWS FOR LUNG CANCER AWARNESS MONTH!

2010-11-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

From the Washington Post, November 4th, 2010:

"Screening former or current smokers with high-tech scans can significantly cut deaths from lung cancer, according to a long-awaited federal study released Thursday."

Read the entire article here.

The following commentary on the report was originally published by our parent organization, The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF), of which we are an affiliate.

[November 4, 2010] Today is Independence Day around the world, and a new chance at freedom from Lung Cancer. Today breaks a 40-year silence surrounding care for Lung Cancer victims.

“This is fantastic news,” says Bonnie J. Addario, “Although we already knew this, didn’t we? Which is why we started the Demand a Scan screening program four years ago. This is the beginning of significantly increasing the survival rate for lung cancer for the first time in forty years.”

According to Dr. David Jablons, BJALCF co-founder,”The results of the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial are positive. The addition of CT screening in at risk patients (prior smokers over 50 yrs of age) demonstrate a 20% reduction in the risk of lung cancer specific death. This is an enormous step forward for improving outcomes for lung cancer patients and for preventing thousands of deaths that would occur without screening. It is an exciting vindication of the Foundation’s longstanding belief and policy that CT screening of the appropriate population of patients saves lives in real time today…”

Addario Lung Cancer Medical Board (ALCMI)’s Scientific Leadership Board member Dr. Harvey Pass says, “This is a landmark study which once and for all validates the role of low dose helical CT in saving the lives of patients with lung cancer. Since the original report by Henschke and Yankelevitz that lung cancer screening could detect early lung cancers, there has been controversy over the types of lung cancers detected, the proper management of the CT findings, and whether the mortality as opposed to survival is impacted by CT screening. There is no doubt now that the 20% reduction in mortality shown in this randomized trial with the use of CT screening in high risk individuals represents the most robust answer to these questions that could not be accurately answered from using outdated, earlier lung cancer modeling. Lung cancer, when detected early, is a treatable disease with long term survivorship, and the use of CT scans for early detection will save lives. Implementation of these findings into our health care system, and recognition of lung cancer screening as the standard of care can now move forward without delay.”

Young. Female. Non-Smoker.

2010-11-03T14:33:00.001-07:00

He quit smoking 33 years ago...

2010-11-03T08:36:00.001-07:00

Nobody DESERVES lung cancer: http://www.thesuburbannews.ca/content/en/5772.

Lung Cancer: Still Number 1

2010-11-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

By Linda Fugate

Linda Fugate is a scientist and writer in Austin, Texas. She has a Ph.D. in Physics and an M.S. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering. Her background includes academic and industrial research in materials science. She currently writes song lyrics and health articles.

Originally Published on EmpowHER - Women's Health Online (http://www.empowher.com) on November 1st, 2010.

Lung cancer still kills more women than breast cancer does. Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer for women, men, Americans, and people worldwide. According to a review from the Mayo Clinic, we are making progress: the incidence is on the decline in the United States. But it's still Number One.

My newspaper this morning had a special pink section on breast cancer. This Number Two cancer killer of women gets ribbons, fund-raisers, annual screenings, and constant attention. Maybe it's time to give a little more attention to Number One.

Approximately 85 to 90 percent of lung cancers are attributed to smoking tobacco products. After a person stops smoking, the risk gradually decreases. Former smokers reach a level of lung health comparable to those who have never smoked if they survive smoke-free for 10 years. But too many of them die before the end of that decade. In a study of 5,000 patients with lung cancer diagnosed between 1997 and 2002, only 25 percent were current smokers and over 60 percent were former smokers and those who had never smoked in their lives.

The American Cancer Society does not yet recommend screening for lung cancer, even for individuals at risk. At first this sounds amazing to me. The Mayo Clinic article reports that the only reasonable hope for curing lung cancer is surgery at a very early stage, before the tumor develops metastases or locally advanced disease. Approximately 70 percent of cases are diagnosed too late for surgery. The overall 5-year survival rate is only 15 percent. So shouldn't we be looking for early lung cancers in smokers and former smokers?

The problem is that 25 to 60 percent of screening CT scans of smokers and former smokers show lung abnormalities. Most of these are not cancer, but it's not yet possible to identify which ones are malignant without invasive biopsy tests. The National Lung Screen Trial is currently underway to collect data on whether spiral CT scans or chest x-rays provide better data.

No one is absolutely safe from lung cancer. About 10 to 15 percent of lung cancers occur in people who have never smoked. Risk factors include air pollution, second hand smoke, and occupational exposure to inhaled carcinogens including asbestos, silica dust, and radioactive particles.

I watched one of my friends die of lung cancer. It was horrible, even with the best available care. I hope we can raise awareness and funding for this Number One cancer killer.

References:

1. Molina JR et al, “Non-small cell lung cancer: Epidemiology, risk factors, treatment, and survivorship”, Mayo Clin Proc. 2008; 83(5): 584-594.
2. National Lung Screening Trial:
http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/noteworthy-trials/nlst

Americans in the Dark About Lung Cancer

2010-10-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

‎

The following press release was published by the National Lung Cancer Partnership.

MADISON, Wisc., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Men and women worry about prostate and breast cancer, yet the number one cancer killer in the United States – lung cancer – isn't on their radar. According to a survey released today by the National Lung Cancer Partnership, Americans know little about lung cancer's causes, symptoms and the number of lives it takes compared to other cancers.

The survey of 1,000 American men and women age 18 and older found most women were unaware that lung cancer takes more women's lives each year than breast cancer. And they weren't alone – most men surveyed were unaware that lung cancer takes more men's lives each year than prostate cancer.

"Lung cancer is by far the number one cancer killer in the United States, yet the disease isn't on people's radar," said Regina Vidaver, Ph.D., executive director of the National Lung Cancer Partnership. "If we're going to catch it early, treat it and give people the best chance for survival, they need to know about lung cancer and its symptoms, take measures to reduce their risk and talk with their doctor about their health history."

The survey findings include:

80 percent of respondents did not know that lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in the United States.
83 percent of women surveyed did not know that lung cancer takes more women's lives each year than breast cancer.
75 percent of men surveyed did not know that lung cancer takes more men's lives each year than prostate cancer.
Only 12 percent of respondents said they know the symptoms of lung cancer, which include a cough that won't go away; pain in the back, chest or shoulders that won't go away; shortness of breath; unexplained wheezing; and coughing up blood, among other symptoms.
88 percent of those surveyed did not know that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Radon is a colorless, odorless radioactive gas that is formed by the natural decay of uranium in rock, soil, and water and can be found in all 50 states. Visit the EPA's radon information and action website to learn more about how to protect yourself from this lung cancer risk.
Only 6 percent of respondents said they had talked to their doctor about their risk for lung cancer.
Only 32 percent of those surveyed understood that over half of all lung cancers occur in people who have already quit smoking. This lack of awareness of continued risk after quitting smoking may make people less likely to talk with their doctors about symptom recognition.

The survey did reveal some encouraging findings related to lung cancer awareness: according to the national advocacy organization, 98 percent of men and women recognized that lung cancer does not just affect people who smoke. This finding shows that Americans' perception that only smokers get lung cancer seems to be fading, and further education on lung cancer risk factors such as radon, secondhand smoke and family history of cancer will be crucial to helping people take appropriate measures to protect their health.

Also, nearly half of the respondents said they'd be willing to participate in a clinical trial, which is critical to improving lung cancer treatment outcomes and helping people live longer, better lives. Resources, including a clinical trials finder and the patient education video: Stories of Strength: Making the Decision to Enter a Lung Cancer Clinical Trial, are available at NationalLungCancerPartnership.org.

"This survey holds both good and bad news about the current state of lung cancer awareness in the United States," said Dr. Vidaver. "Awareness can help decrease cancer death rates, as recent studies have shown, so it's never been more important for Americans to understand that lung cancer is the country's number one cancer killer."

SOURCE: National Lung Cancer Partnership
RELATED LINK: http://www.nationallungcancerpartnership.org

Girl Selling Hot Chocolate for Lung Cancer Research

2010-10-21T09:00:00.001-07:00

Originally published in the Elmherst Press on Oct 21, 2010 @ 09:19 AM
Last update Oct 21, 2010 @ 09:22 AM

Elmhurst, IL — An 11-year-old Bryan Middle School student is selling hot chocolate for the third straight year to raise funds for the lung cancer research that helped her father survive.

Amy Bowles will give away her hot chocolate from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, in the City Centre Plaza by York and Schiller streets. Hot chocolate is free after a donation.

Bowles has raised a combined $950 for Lungevity, through the Naperville Lung Cancer Walk and Rally beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 6, at the Riverwalk Park Grand Pavillion, 500 W. Jackson Ave., Naperville.

Bowles has been working hard in support of her father, who was diagnosed with lung cancer 10 years ago. During his treatment, he lost a lung and seen his cancer spread to his pelvis and pleura lining.

Copyright 2010 Roselle Press. Some rights reserved

Lung Cancer: Women's Deadliest Enemy

2010-10-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

A must-watch from WCVB-TV in Boston:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG3uv73h1Vg

Radon Awareness Week

2010-10-18T06:59:00.000-07:00

Contrary to popular belief, second-hand smoke is not the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers. Radon gas is. It is also one of the biggest causes of lung cancer among all people, second only to smoking itself.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has declared the week of October 17th - 24th to be National Radon Awareness Week. The EPA estimates that Radon is a problem in nearly 20 percent of American homes.

Radon is a very strong carcinogen and, when inhaled, can cause lung cancer. Smokers exposed to radon are 10 to 12 times more likely to get lung cancer than are non-smokers similarly exposed.

Radon is a gas released from the decay of Radium which exists naturally in the soil, rocks and water beneath building structures. As Radon decays, it produces tiny particles that are just the right size to get into the lungs when breathing.

Because doors and windows are more likely to be closed during winter, spring and fall, these are the most ideal seasons to test for its presence. This is why the EPA chose October 17th - 24th as National Radon Awareness Week and January as National Radon Awareness Month.

You can learn much more here, including how to get your home tested for Radon.

Disturbing

2010-10-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

Some new numbers are available, courtesy of LUNGevity Foundation. To date, The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund has been publishing total federal research spending on certain cancers as compared to lung cancer. The last year we had data for was FY 2007. Thanks again to LUNGevity for publsihing FY 2009 numbers. The trend for lung cancer is disturbing at best.

5-Year Survival Rates

Breast: 87%

Prostate: 99%

Lung: 15%

On a related note: The Tobacco Settlement money is not going toward lung cancer research. Over the next 25 years, the Master Settlement Agreement will pay $246 Billion to the 50 States (and the District of Columbia). In 1999, a unanimous federal resolution passed stating the commitment "to spending a significant portion of the tobacco settlement funds on smoking cessation programs, health care, education, and programs benefiting children." Sadly, none of the money has been dedicated to lung cancer research and only 0.65% is earmarked for federal research into tobacco and other substance abuse.

Help us fight to change this!

Another Chance to Go "Jogging for Joan"!

2010-10-12T07:35:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, November 6th 10, 2010, Lung Cancer Allicance - Georgia Chapter will host their "No More Excuses" 5K and 1 Mile Fun Run/Walk in Alpharetta at 7300 North Point Parkway. (Map)

The "No More Excuses" 5K and 1 Mile Fun Run/Walk is a fun, inspiring, wellness and sports event aimed at educating all Georgians about lung cancer, honoring all those touched by the disease, strengthening the voice for increasing lung cancer research funding, and inspiring others to join the lung cancer movement. Join us today and make your voice heard!

Event Location

New Balance Atlanta

7300 North Point Parkway

Alpharetta, Georgia 30022-4818

Event Schedule

Registration: 11/6/2010 7:00 am - 8:00 am

Run and Walk: 8:00 am - 9:00 am

Health Fair: 8:00 am - 10:00 am
Awards Ceremony: 9:00 am - 10:00 am

Fees
Online Registration: $20.00 (General registration by October 31, 2010.)
Phantom Runner/Walker: $25.00 (Register "in-spirit" and still raise awareness and support for lung cancer!)
In Person Registration: $25.00

All registrations after October 31, 2010 will be done at the race site.

Join our team today!

How to join team "Jogging for Joan":

Single runners, go to http://nomoreexcusesrunwalk.kintera.org/joggingforjoan and click "Join Our Team".

To sign up a family or group:

Go to http://www.nomoreexcusesrunwalk.kintera.org/ and
Click on “Register Here”
Click on “I Agree”
Select “Register Family”
Select “Join a Team”
Under “Join an Existing Team”, Select “Jogging for Joan” from the drop-down menu.
Fill out all required information for yourself on the page displayed.
Click “Submit”
Click on “Add a Team Member”
Rinse and Repeat for all family/group members....

You can also create you own team if you'd like!

You may call us at 404-987-0792 if you have any questions.

Spread the word!!!

Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation 5K

2010-10-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

Thak you to all who came out on Sunday morning in Atlanta!

From the heart...

2010-10-11T00:42:00.000-07:00

Please read this posting from Taylor Bell. At the age of 21, she - a healthy, non-smoking athlete - was diagnosed with lung cancer. You can follow her blog at http://crazy1lung.blogspot.com.

10 Things Every Woman Should Know About Lung Cancer

2010-10-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

By Lynette Summerill
Originally Published on EmpowHER - Women's Health Online (http://www.empowher.com/).
10/07/2010.

Lynette Summerill is an award-winning writer who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. In addition to writing about cancer-related issues, she writes a blog, Nonsmoking Nation, which follows global tobacco news and events.

1. Lung cancer affects women differently than men, and young women (under 40) are at greater risk for developing lung cancer than young men.

2. More women die of lung cancer than any other cancer, including breast cancer, ovarian cancer and uterine cancers combined. Smoking is the primary cause of lung cancer, so if you smoke, quit.

3. Your risk of lung cancer continues to decline with every year you don't smoke. However, if you used to smoke, you remain at increased risk for lung cancer for at least 20 years after you quit.

4. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer, so if you live in an area with high levels of radium in the bedrock, have your house tested for radon exposure. To find out more, go to http://jglcf.org/radon.aspx.

5. Risk factors for lung cancer other than smoking include lung scarring from infection with tuberculosis and occupational or environmental exposures to radon, second-hand smoke, radiation, asbestos, air pollution, arsenic and some organic chemicals. [And genetic predisposition. - Joe Gaeta]

6. Symptoms of lung cancer may include a cough that won't go away, chest, shoulder or back pain that won't go away, unexplained wheezing, shortness of breath, hoarseness, coughing up blood, swelling in the neck and face, difficulty swallowing, weight loss and loss of appetite, increasing fatigue and weakness, and recurring respiratory infections such as pneumonia.

7. Lung cancer, like any other cancer, is most treatable when detected early. If you smoke now or smoked in the past, or have a family history of lung cancer, talk to your doctor about screening tests available to you.

8. Although lung cancer is a serious disease, women typically fare better than men after treatment for lung cancer. [When treated early enough. - JG]

9. Eating a well balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables helps reduce the risk of lung cancer.

10. Lung cancer research is s i gnificantly under-funded, despite the fact that lung cancer is the number one cancer killer of women in the U.S. Less money is spent on lung cancer research than on the next three top cancer killers. [To find out more information about lung cancer and how you can help, go to http://www.forjoan.org. - JG]

Another Healthy, Non-Smoking Woman

2010-10-06T05:27:00.001-07:00

Sad. This must change.

http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=13275132

Women and Lung Cancer: A 21st Century Epidemic

2010-10-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

By Lynette Summerill
Orginally Published on EmpowHER - Women's Health Online (http://www.empowher.com)

Medical researchers are faced with solving a difficult puzzle. Why is the prevalence of lung cancer in men decreasing at the same time it is increasing in women?

Lung cancer in U.S. women is a contemporary epidemic that only recently has started leveling off. Since the mid-1970s, the incidence of lung cancer in women has increase six-fold, becoming one of this country’s major health problems.

The human and financial burden of lung cancer is hard to comprehend. Currently, U.S. women have the highest lung cancer rates in the world. Last year alone, lung cancer killed enough U.S. women to equal or surpass the entire population of Muncie, Indiana, and killed more than breast, ovarian and uterine cancers combined. Every year, approximately $9.6 billion is spent in the U.S. treating this disease.This scene is repeated in other top economic countries, and is expected to take its toll on emerging economic nations in the next few decades.

But why is this happening? The short answer is nobody knows for sure and some of the “causes” are still controversial, but there are some pretty impressive clues that have been uncovered.

The incidence for women we are seeing now is a result of the rise in women's smoking from decades ago, says Michael Thun, a researcher and former head of the surveillance and epidemiology at the American Cancer Society. "Women as a group started smoking later than men and are slower to quit, and smoking is known to be the biggest contributor to lung cancer," he said.

Cigarette smoking in men and women is thought to cause up to 90 percent of all lung cancers in the U.S. This is a major concern as epidemiological data suggest that women may be more susceptible than men to develop lung cancer.

Smoking explains part of the trend, but it falls short in making clear why there has been an increase of lung cancer in never smokers, like Dana Reeve, the wife of Superman actor Christopher Reeve, who died of the disease in 2006, at the age of 44.

Research conducted by Neal Freedman of the National Cancer Institute and published in The Lancet Oncology July 2008 edition, found that women who have never smoked seem to be at higher risk of developing lung cancer than men who have never smoked. Other studies suggest one-in-five lung cancers are seen in never smokers. The majority of these cases are diagnosed in young women under age 40.

While still controversial, research has found some evidence that estrogen production may play a part in this puzzle. As in breast cancer, estrogen can serve as a tumor promoter, some studies suggest. Many lung cancer tumors have been found to have estrogen receptors on them in both men and women. The current hypothesis is since women produce more estrogen than men, they are more likely to have a reaction with the estrogen receptor in the tumors.

Beyond hormones, a laundry list of other factors may be putting women who have never smoked or former smokers at risk for lung cancer, including exposure to the human papilloma virus (HPV), hormone replacement therapy, as well as certain biomarkers that are more prevalent in women than men. Add environmental factors, such as exposure to secondhand smoke, asbestos, air pollution, high levels of arsenic in drinking water and radon gas in homes, and occupational exposure to dry cleaning chemicals and those used in nail salons and unraveling the lung cancer puzzle gets increasing complicated in the modern world.

While researchers don’t all agree on why women are increasingly being diagnosed with lung cancer, they do agree that lung cancer is woefully underfunded, in part because fewer lung cancer advocates exist when compared to other cancers. One reason is only about one in 10 patients live long enough to advocate on behalf of the disease.

Generally speaking, the news around lung cancer seems grim, but improvements in treatment have made leaps and more is known about this disease than just a few years ago, putting recovery in the grasp of more lung cancer patients.

Lynette Summerill is an award-winning writer who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. In addition to writing about cancer-related issues, she writes a blog, Nonsmoking Nation, which follows global tobacco news and events.

Powerful.

2010-09-29T19:40:00.001-07:00

Go Jogging for Joan on Sun. Morning, Oct. 10th!!!

2010-09-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, October 10, 2010, the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation will host the first ever BJALCF 5k Walk/Run in Atlanta at Manuel's Tavern in Poncey Highland.

You can sit, sprint, sprawl, crawl, dance, prance, stroll, cajole, saunter, meander, hop, skip, jump or fly to raise much needed funding for lung cancer research. Let's all come together to fight lung cancer and increase ongoing survival!!!

Event Location

Manuel's Tavern in Poncey Highland

602 N Highland Avenue

Atlanta, GA 30307

Pre-Registration: Online/$25
Day-Of Registration: 7:30 a.m./$30
Shotgun Start: 8:30 a.m.
After run/walk celebration: 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

How to join team "Jogging for Joan":

Single runners, go to http://atlanta.kintera.org/joggingforjoan and click "Join Our Team".

To sign up a family or group:

Go to http://www.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=427099 and
Click on “Register Here”
Click on “I Agree”
Select “Register Family”
Select “Join a Team”
Under “Join an Existing Team”, Select “Jogging for Joan” from the drop-down menu.
Fill out all required information for yourself on the page displayed.
Click “Submit”
Click on “Add a Team Member”
Rinse and Repeat for all family/group members....

You can also create you own team if you'd like!

Spread the word!!!

Jog for Jill 2010 Recap

2010-09-15T01:11:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation, all the teams, donors, and supporters of this event. What a fantastic turnout! One of the largest lung cancer awareness events in history! To find an Addario lung cancer run near you, click here.

"Jog for Jill" an Unqualified Success

2010-09-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

By Spenser Tang-Smith
This article was orginally published on the WebGreek Blog, a college-focused blog that engages in social, professional, economic and political discussion relevant to college and Greek life. (http://www.blog.webgreek.com/)
Monday September 13, 2010
-------
As I write this, we’ve just returned from Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, where despite the windy, foggy weather, 5,000 runners/walkers/crawlers just participated in Jog for Jill. It’s hard to express how touching it was to see so many people out and about on a Sunday afternoon to work towards finding a cure and raising awareness, but I’ll try.

For those unaware, Jog for Jill is a fundraiser for the Bonnie J Addario Lung Cancer Foundation, and this is the second event this year. The race honors Jill Costello, a UC Berkeley grad, Kappa Kappa Gamma sister, and Pac-10 Women’s Rowing Athlete of the Year, who passed away on June 24th, 2010 from stage IV lung cancer. It was her mission to find a cure, and she helped to raise over $65,000 for research. She also spoke several times in front of Genentech, telling them to get their rears in gear to find a cure.

Before she passed away, Jill worked with the Bonnie J Addario foundation to get the Jog for Jill event up and running, and the support from the sports, Greek, and local communities has been incredible. For example, if you were out and about in the Bay Area as of late, you would’ve noticed ads for Sunday’s race. The bus ads were donated by Titan360, and the billboards were donated by CBS, with design work provided by Engine One. All told, $122,000 worth of advertising was donated to help spread the word.

Today’s event has raised well over $300,000 as of this writing, and according to the foundation’s executive director Sheila Von Driska, will likely exceed $400,000 (at this moment, the Kintera site reads over $317,000). The most heartening thing about it is that the foundation has been able to increase the number of participants 5-fold since the February run, and there will soon be events taking place all over the country, including Boston, Houston, and Salt Lake City. Says Sheila, “each event will have a Team Jill, and these races will continue until there’s a cure.”

Jill’s roommate and Kappa sister K.C. Oakley is putting together Jog For Jill in Salt Lake City while training for the Olympics as a freestyle mogul skier. On the whole, Jill’s Kappa family has been tremendously supportive of the cause, and today they had a strong showing of well over 40 women on their team during the run.

In all, over 150 teams competed, and I saw racers from Cal, Stanford, St. Mary’s, and St. Ignatius present. After a tasty barbecue donated by Knight’s catering, there was a surprise announcement that Team Frank’s $22,700 was matched by Safeway. People hung around the area between the California Academy of Sciences and the De Young Museum chatting and eating and stretching, and no doubt gearing up for the next race in February as awards were presented.

Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in the US, yet it receives the least amount of funding for research and prevention. Jill sought to change that, and there can be no doubt that few people have done more for the cause than this brave young woman. Please consider making a donation, and helping to spread the word.

-----------------------------------

For those of you in the Atlanta area, the Addario Foundation is holding a similar 5K in Virginia Highlands on October 10th! Join my team at www.joggingforjoan.com! - Joe Gaeta

One on One with Danielle Hicks of the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation

2010-09-07T17:58:00.000-07:00

One on One 1032 Danielle Hicks from Peninsula TV on Vimeo

Peninsula TV is an Emmy-Award winning programming resource and community information channel for San Francisco, CA and surrounding areas. Great work Danielle!

Joosten Slams "Albatross" American Cancer Society

2010-09-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

by TED CASABLANCA AND TARYN RYDER
Today 9:01 AM PDT

From Ted Casablanca's "The Awful Truth" Blog on E! Online (eonline.com)

You've read our thoughts on the Centers for Disease Control's effort to ban smoking in films and TV, so we thought we'd check in with Emmy nominee and lung cancer survivor Kathryn Joosten to get her sassy view on the matter.

The outspoken babe, who told us she has "no cancer at this time" (yay!) has bigger fish to fry than the Centers for Disease Control.

"I have to condemn the American Cancer Society," Kath told us over Emmy weekend. Why's that, K?

"Certainly I understand smoking is an issue, but it's not the only reason for lung cancer and other diseases," the Desperate Housewives star told us at the Emmy nominee reception, looking fab and spunky, as usual, in purple.

"To spend so much time and effort on just that distracts from attention that should be paid on finding a good diagnostic procedure or to find some better search and targeted therapies."

Continued Joosten: "And I have to condemn the American Cancer Society. They are such an albatross—they are 20 years behind the times, and their statistics are 20 years behind the times.

"Little-known fact about the American Cancer Society: When you donate money to the ACS and designate it for a specific disease, unless it's for more than $4,500, it goes into the general fund. You know when it says, ‘In lieu of flowers make a donation to the ACS'? It's bull. It doesn't happen."

With the help of ACS or not, Kath is back to her sassy self.

"I'm perfectly healthy," she smiled when we asked how she's doing.

But as for whether she'll be back facing what's sure to be another big battle on the divalicious set of Desperate Housewives this season: "Who the hell knows?"

Can Eating Vegetables Prevent Lung Cancer?

2010-08-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

Posted by ALICE PARK Monday, August 30, 2010 at 5:15 pm
TIME.com Wellness Blog

If you smoke, you know you're putting yourself at increased risk of lung cancer. But if you boost the variety of fruits and vegetables that you eat, you may be able to lower those odds a bit.

Scientists in Europe report in the American Association for Cancer Research's journal that smokers who consumed the greatest variety of fruits and vegetables lowered their risk of developing lung cancer by 23% over the study's nearly nine year follow up. With every different type of fruit and vegetable they ate, they dropped their cancer risk by another 4%. Previous studies have linked the quantity of these foods to a lower risk of cancer, but this reduction was independent of how much fruits and greens the 452,000 study subjects ate. Among the vegetables on their plates—leafy greens, root vegetables, cabbages, mushrooms, stalk vegetables, and onion and garlic, among others, while the fruit category included fresh, dried and canned varieties.

The authors, led by cancer experts based in the Netherlands, speculate that the variety, as opposed the quantity of these foods is important in cancer prevention. That's because these foods contain important compounds that scientists still haven't identified as beneficial in thwarting cancer growth, so the greater the variety of these fruits and vegetables in our diet, the greater the chance that we will absorb enough of whatever cancer-fighting agents they may harbor. This variety, they say, is particularly beneficial in lowering risk of squamous cell carcinoma, which accounts for 90% of cancers in the head and neck and is caused by tobacco or alcohol.

The findings shouldn't however, give smokers free reign to light up after eating a salad. The study only identified a strong association between fruit and vegetable consumption and lung cancer risk, and isn't proof that eating a certain diet can ward off cancer. The only proven way to avoid the disease, says the study's authors, is to stop smoking.

Kathryn Joosten of 'Desperate Housewives' shines her Emmy-nominee spotlight on lung cancer research

2010-08-26T17:24:00.001-07:00

Read it here.

Our Radio Public Service Announcement

2010-08-25T09:27:00.000-07:00

This public service announcement ran on Sports Radio 680 The Fan in Atlanta on August 8th and 15th, 2010 during their "Community Focus" segment.

Thank you to the folks at 680 The Fan for producing and airing this PSA.

Emory Participating in Lung Cancer Research

2010-08-23T17:23:00.001-07:00

Copyright 2010 by WSBTV.com. All rights reserved.August 23, 2010

ATLANTA -- The Winship Cancer Institute of Emory Hospital is one of 14 facilities nationwide participating in the research.

"This is an important and far reaching study of the genetic components of lung cancer," said oncologist Dr. Fadlo Khuri. He's Winship's principal investigator on the project. "We hope to establish a fingerprint for each genetic change, so we can hasten the implementation of personalized medicine for lung cancer."

Hospital official says Winship researchers will work with patients who have been diagnosed with advanced adenocarcinoma of the lung. Adenocarcinoma is cancer of epithelia originating in glandular tissue. Scientists will collect data and tumor tissue from the patients to test for genetic changes.

"The new knowledge obtained in this study will pave the way toward development true personalized medicine for certain types of lung cancers," said Dr. Khuri.

For more information, go to emoryhealthscience.org.

SAVE THE DATE!

2010-08-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

Our Fourth Annual Dancing for Joan event will be held on Saturday, February 26th, 2011
from 7pm to Midnight. Mark you calendars!

More information, including ticket info and sponsorship opportunities will be available soon.
Keep checking back.

Learn more at www.DancingforJoan.com and www.NobodyDeservesIt.com!

Here are some scenes from 2010:

Online Registration for the NLCP "Free to Breathe" 5K in Atlanta is Now Closed

2010-08-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

HOWEVER, you can still register the morning of the race! Info here: http://participate.freetobreathe.org/site/TR/RunWalk/General/2111302471?pg=entry&fr_id=1312

Woman 'cancer-free' after taking new lung cancer drug in Colorado

2010-08-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

Drug in clinical trials at CU Cancer Center has helped Lindsay Gomes battle lung cancer
by Kim Posey, KDVR Denver
10:54 AM MDT, August 18, 2010

(August 17, 2010) AURORA - Doctors at the University of Colorado Cancer Center are very hopeful about the possibilities of a new cancer drug in clinical trials with Pfizer. It's helping people like Lindsay Gomes.

At age 28, the nonsmoker was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. She went through months of chemotherapy, but could not kick the cancer. Her doctor sent her tissue in for extra testing, and found that Lindsay's cancer was positive for the ALK protein.

The new drug goes after that specific protein in lung cancer patients. "In Lindsay it's what's driving her cancer, and when you shut it off, you take away the cancer's life support system, and that cancer disappears in a few days," said Dr. Ross Camidge, who is involved with the research.

After just a short time on the drug, Lindsay's scans are cancer free. "I've got my life back," she says.

The University of Colorado Cancer Center is one of five centers in the world involved in the research. Dr. Camidge says he hopes all lung cancer patients will be tested to see if their tumors are ALK positive, to see if they could benefit from the drug.

NLCP "Free to Breathe" Atlanta 5K - Saturday, 8/21/10

2010-08-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

Tommorrow (8/18) is the last day to register online! Join our team and go "Jogging for Joan"!

Register here:
http://participate.freetobreathe.org/site/TR?team_id=9202&pg=team&fr_id=1312

Learn more about lung cancer at www.NobodyDeservesIt.com.

The 1st Annual Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation Atlanta 5K Run/Walk

2010-08-16T07:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday Morning, October 10th, 2010 - Atlanta, Georgia
Register today and join our team at atlanta.kintera.org/joggingforjoan.

No Evidence Estrogen Causes Lung Cancer Post-Hysterectomy

2010-08-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

Analysis found taking hormone alone did not increase risk
by Robert Preidt, HealthDay/ScoutNews LLC

FRIDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Taking estrogen doesn't increase the risk of developing or dying from lung cancer among postmenopausal women who've had a hysterectomy, a new study has found.
Previous research about the effects of combined estrogen plus progestin therapy produced conflicting results and no studies have clarified the influence of the use of estrogen alone, the authors of the new study noted.

The researchers, Dr. Rowan T. Chlebowski, of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, and colleagues analyzed data from 10,739 women, aged 50 to 79, who had undergone a hysterectomy and who had been randomly selected to take estrogen or a placebo as part of the Women's Health Initiative trial.

There were 34 lung cancer deaths among women in the estrogen group, compared with 33 such deaths in the placebo group, according to the report published online Aug. 13 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The findings show that the use of estrogen alone was not associated with lung cancer incidence or death, Chlebowski's team stated in a news release from the journal's publisher.

More information: The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about estrogen.

SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, news release, Aug. 13, 2010

Their blogs chronicled love and loss

2010-08-16T04:36:00.000-07:00

Their blogs chronicled love and loss
Wife, husband each shared saga of her lung cancer death
By Matthew T. Hall, SAND DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 8 p.m.

By her 52nd birthday, Sheila Wheatley had nearly run out of wishes.

She wanted to stay at a beach bungalow with her husband, watch the sunset, restore order through Sudoku. She wanted to wear shiny gold earrings and not be tired. So on Sept. 10, she and Ken Wheatley checked into the Hotel del Coronado.

The next day, on her birthday, they checked into the ER. She ate cake in the hospital. A friend brought her a kite and ocean water.

Sheila Wheatley did not smoke. She ate healthy and played tennis. She had no family history of the disease.

Within days of the hospitalization, she could no longer speak. She, who had wanted so much to win her fight against lung cancer that she shared the battles with family and friends in 103 blog posts over 20 months, could only communicate on paper now.

In the small hours of Sept. 14, a day before she died, her wants were down to one. She wanted to hear her husband’s voice.

“Tell me a story,” she said.

He told her theirs.

It’s a story that survives on Ken Wheatley’s blog, where he mourns, reminisces and maps out the tennis tournament he organized in her name to raise money for lung cancer research.

“The planning for the tennis tournament is coming along,” he wrote July 23. “We’ve had our first players sign up. Only need 78 more. … I miss you, Sheila. Every day, several times a day, I wish you were here. Love you …”

Blogs about dying are nothing new. Patients use them to keep loved ones informed and to avoid a series of draining conversations. What made the Wheatleys unusual is that they both kept blogs.

“People became dependent on it,” Ken Wheatley said. “It was like a soap opera unfolding, but more importantly it was a love story that most people don’t experience.”

He and Sheila agreed not to read each other’s words during the treatment, though he has since read about 10 of her entries, starting with her last.

Nearly a year has passed since his wife’s death, but Wheatley, 56, an executive in charge of security at Sony Electronics, can’t steel himself to put her pink slippers, sneakers or favorite shoes out of sight. They’re still neatly lined up under the love seat in the hallway of their Ramona home.

He hasn’t moved her wig from the side of the bathtub or her clothes from the walk-in closet. He hasn’t removed the orange Post-it note he left inside her medicine cabinet — “Hello beautiful! Love you.” — or the reminder she left on the fridge to go to the store for half and half.

This is what he has done: He sold his Porsche and began driving her older BMW; it has three times as many miles but also has her mascara and her sour candies close enough to touch.

He merged their Netflix queues. Now he sees movies like “Tristan & Isolde,” films he would have watched only with her. At times like these, he picks up her urn and sets it on a table in front of the TV. He makes popcorn from scratch, the way they always did.

He’s also channeling his grief into the doubles tennis tournament.

The competition, open to anyone, will take place Sept. 18 at the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad. He has never done anything like this and is a bit nervous about the slow pace of registrations. People who know better tell him the word will get out.

“I know that I have not cornered the market on grief,” Wheatley said. “I don’t want to be one of those people who mourn quietly about my wife and not take that and help others.”

At the same time, he’s seeing someone new. She’s helping with the tournament. She has been to his house.

“What woman would really tolerate coming into someone’s home and seeing all this?” Wheatley said, referring his wife’s pictures, jewelry, radiation positioning mask.

Yet Sandra Crane understands. She told him she lost someone too, 14 years ago, in a car accident. She told him she still keeps the man’s favorite braided ficus tree.

The Wheatleys’ story is online for all to read. Her account is at sheilawheatley.wordpress.com. His is at kenwheatley.wordpress.com.

“Ken is there to hold my hand and distract me,” Sheila Wheatley wrote on Feb. 1, 2008. “He is a tremendous comfort and support every step of the way. I worry about him shouldering so much.”

Her former oncologist at the UCSD Moores Cancer Center, Dr. Lyudmila Bazhenova, doesn’t know how many of her 200 to 300 patients keep blogs because her time with them is limited. But she knew about the Wheatleys’.

“It gives you 180 degrees, a different view, of how the patients look at you and look at the disease,” Bazhenova said.

Mike Stevens, state chairman of the Lung Cancer Alliance and a survivor for five years now, said technology has changed how people cope with cancer. They’re more likely to seek online support groups than in-person ones, although it’s still rare for patients to write blogs, Stevens said.

Lung cancer accounts for almost one-third of all cancer deaths. Many tire too easily and die too quickly to maintain a blog.

“Blogs for me or reading about people gets really hard to do,” Stevens said. “I get close to too many of these people and become friends and soon they’re gone.”

For the Wheatleys’ support network, the blogs were emotional but essential reading.

Darlene Budd, one of Sheila Wheatley’s 10 siblings, still reads her blog a couple of times each week.

“Since she’s been gone, I find it more comforting,” Budd said.

Monica Way Seitrich, who knew Wheatley since grade school at Saint John of the Cross in Lemon Grove, found that her friend’s blog freed up their conversations.

“When you were with her personally, you didn’t want to talk about that stuff,” Seitrich said. “You wanted to grab life.”

Wheatley’s blog kept you current on the treatments, Seitrich said. Her husband’s made you weep.

“I don’t want her to suffer,” Ken Wheatley wrote on June 23, 2009, a day after the couple’s first wedding anniversary. “I don’t want to lose her. We still have adventures to do.”

They were just business acquaintances at first.

When they met in 1992, he was a manager at Sony Electronics and she owned the vending machine company that served it. They began dating in January 2004. They had both been married before, he twice.

That first Valentine’s Day, she might have been happy with dinner and a movie. What she got was a 10-day Outward Bound trip in Big Bend National Park in western Texas. She carried a 75-pound pack over 20 miles, rappelled off 80-foot cliffs, slept in the open on the ground.

They did things together that neither would do alone.

The couple became engaged in June 2007 and were choosing a wedding location six months later when she was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. That gave her a 5 percent chance of living for five years.

They made do, made plans, made a life together.

They traveled around the world, slapped magnets on the fridge of every place they went. The mosaic remains, surrounding Sheila Wheatley's final grocery list.

That day, she wanted cherry Jell-O, Mott’s original apple sauce and chocolate instant breakfast.

She had been gone nine months when Ken Wheatley wrote on his blog: “Things are a bit of a blur these days. I guess because I think of Sheila constantly, the days just run together. Every day seems like ‘the day.’”

Standing in their bedroom recently, he said, “My attention is obviously on Sheila and the tournament and I’m not trying to move on. I’m just taking it one day at a time.”

Dresses From ‘Mad Men’ To Benefit Lung Cancer Research

2010-08-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

Bid on Dresses From ‘Mad Men’ To Benefit Lung Cancer Research - People.com

Where Is The Early Detection for Lung Cancer?

2010-08-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

Lung cancer advocate and fellow BJALCF affiliate, Jennifer Windrum, recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Thierry Jahan, lung cancer specialist at UCSF Medical Center, at the Bonnie J Addario Lung Cancer Foundation's Fifth Annual Golf Tournament.

LCA Launches National Shine a Light on Lung Cancer Vigil

2010-08-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

Lung Cancer Alliance Launches National Shine a Light on Lung Cancer Vigil -- WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

Breath Test to Detect Lung Cancer?

2010-08-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

Perhaps one day: http://lungcancer.about.com/b/2010/08/11/breath-test-to-detect-lung-cancer-a-possibility.htm

Lung Cancer Alliance Commends Senator Mark Warner

2010-08-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

For His Support For Lung Cancer Research - Yahoo! News

Former Dayton, Ohio Radio Personality Dies of Lung Cancer at 50 Yeas of Age. A non-smoker.

2010-08-09T19:52:00.000-07:00

By Mary McCarty, Staff Writer
The Dayton Daily News

Rapid City, S.D. — Former WYSO radio personality Ruth Yellowhawk died Saturday morning at her home in the Black Hills of South Dakota, with her husband Jim and family members by her side. Yellowhawk, 50, worked as program director and on-air personality from 1984 to 1996. A non-smoker, she was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer in June.

Close friend Betty Knighton said, “Ruth spent her last few days in the glass-walled living room of their home where she had a panoramic view of the bluest of skies and the towering evergreens on the slopes outside her door. Each evening Jim sat beside her and read the cards that came in the day’s mail. Every day brought messages from many of you, and Jim gave voice to each of your loving words.”

Yellowhawk and her family moved to South Dakota in 1996, embracing a lifestyle closer to their Native American roots, but in an interview with the Dayton Daily News in July she said she has always kept Dayton close to her heart. “The Dayton community is swelling around me,” Yellowhawk said. “I’m a bit taken aback by it, and humbled by it. I still feel very much a part of Dayton.”

Bob Daley of the Kettering Foundation said that Yellowhawk, who worked closely with the National Issues Forum for 20 years, will be deeply missed. “She was a pioneer in the field of public deliberations in radio,” Daley said. “She was a lovely woman and a delight to work with.”

Her friends in the Dayton community have rallied behind her, helping to raise funds to pay for her medical bills. Like many in the Native American community, Yellowhawk was uninsured. In addition to her husband Jim, a well-known Native American artist, Yellowhawk is survived by her 16-year-old son Jim.

Donations can be made to the Ruth Yellowhawk Donation Fund, 23213 Black Forest Place Rapid City, SD 57702 .

Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Fund Joins BJALCF and ACLMI at The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation

2010-08-09T06:04:00.000-07:00

Read it here.