Anne Phillips Attended the College Football National Championship

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It’s hard to know to what to say about all this other than we are just so excited! With the short timeline between the end of the contest and the national championships we haven’t had much time to process. Watching that Rose Bowl game and knowing we were going to see the winner play live was great. And Georgia vs. Alabama? What a match up! ~ Anne Phillips 

Atlanta, GA. Denver, CO lung cancer survivor Anne Phillips and, her husband, Ryan attended the 2018 College Football National Championship in Atlanta, GA on January 8, 2018.  Anne and Ryan watched the University of Alabama Crimson Tide defeat the University of Georgia Bulldogs in overtime at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

As an avid college football fan there is no other sporting event I would rather attend than the National Championship game. And winning a trip to the game by raising money for IASLC makes the event much more meaningful. Every dollar spent on lung cancer research extends peoples’s lives. My wife and I are here today because of this research, and I am extremely proud of my wife for advancing the cause and in her bravery in living with lung cancer. ~ Ryan Phillips

Anne earned a trip to the National Championship by being the fourth highest fundraiser in the 2018 Lung Cancer Survivor Super Bowl Challenge. Team SuperAnne will be able to continue to raise funds for the IASLC (International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer) until February 5, 2018. 

In May of 2015, I had a seizure and collapsed one morning before taking my young children to school. Within 24 hours, the doctors suspected I had lung cancer. There was a tumor in the upper lobe of my left lung and multiple metastasis in my brain.  Two days later I had brain surgery to remove the largest brain tumor, the one that caused the seizure, and the oncologist sent material from the tumor to be genomically tested. Tumor testing showed that I had an EGFR mutation which could be treated with a targeted-therapy drug called Tarceva. The drug worked well for almost 2 years before my cancer progressed and metastasized to a lymph node. Fortunately, a new therapy that targeted both mutations had recently been developed, and I was able to switch to Tagrisso earlier this year.

People frequently think that I am “cured” because I don’t look like I have cancer. The reality is that I have cancer now and I always will. ~ Read more about Anne Phillips

Founded by Draft and his late wife Keasha, who died of lung cancer in 2011 at the age of 38, Team Draft is dedicated to raising lung cancer awareness and increasing badly needed research funding through its Campaign To Change The Face Of Lung Cancer, which is committed to shattering the misconception that lung cancer is a “smoker’s disease.” The centerpiece of Team Draft’s Campaign is its annual Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge.

As Draft explains, “the Super Bowl Challenge gives us a unique opportunity to use the overwhelming media coverage surrounding the Super Bowl as a platform to raise critical public awareness about lung cancer on an international level.  With the game as a backdrop, we can use each survivor’s story to weave a broader narrative about the state of lung cancer and the hope that now exists for those battling the disease.”  And Team Draft’s efforts are paying off.

“The Super Bowl Challenge achieves amazing things in terms of public awareness and changing perceptions about lung cancer,” says Dr. Ross Camidge, the Director of Thoracic Oncology at Colorado University Cancer Center, the cancer center where two of last year’s Super Bowl Challenge winners were treated.

In addition to raising critical public awareness, the Super Bowl Challenge also raises funds for lung cancer organizations and treatment centers across North America.  Last year, participants who raised more than $1,000< during the Super Bowl Challenge were able to commit 50% of the funds they raised to a lung cancer organization or cancer center of their choice.

Thanks to the overwhelming success of our annual Super Bowl Challenge, Team Draft is maintaining its commit to 50% if the survivors raise over $1,000, but if they raise over $5,000, their designated beneficiary will receive 80% with the remaining 20% going to support Team Draft’s mission to change the face of lung cancer.

Of this aspect of the Super Bowl Challenge, Dr. Camidge says, “you need somebody working on the national level. You need somebody working on the local level. Everybody wins.”

For the survivors who participate, the Super Bowl Challenge is so much more than just a fundraiser.

“Team Draft has really helped boost our family’s spirits during this challenging time,” says Dr. Lucy Kalanithi. In 2015, Lucy and her husband, Dr. Paul Kalanithi, won Team Draft’s inaugural Super Bowl Challenge and were able to join Team Draft in Phoenix, Arizona for Super Bowl 49.  Paul went on to write the bestselling memoir When Breath Becomes Air — a powerful and moving chronicle of his life and lung cancer journey — before passing away at the age of 37.

2016 Super Bowl Challenge winner, Kim Ringen says, “As a lung cancer survivor, I would highly recommend to anybody to put your hat in the ring because it is so uplifting to be associated with a group of people that are coming together to make a difference.”

To learn more about Team Draft’s 2018 Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge, visit https://www.crowdrise.com/2018SuperBowlChallenge

Special thanks to NFL, Astra Zeneca, and all of our Team Draft supporters for helping make this experience possible.

About Team Draft

Team Draft, an initiative of the Chris Draft Family Foundation, is dedicated to raising lung cancer awareness and increasing research funding by shattering the misconception that lung cancer is a “smoker’s disease.”  Despite the fact that between 20,000 and 30,000 people who have never smoked are diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States each year, the smoking stigma negatively impacts lung cancer research funding, Team Draft is out to change all that. To learn more about Team Draft, share your story, or make a donation, please visit www.teamdraft.org.