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Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY. — Saturday night, lung cancer survivors Kathy O’Brien, Abraham Almanza, and Susan Cortese joined Team Draft at the 23rd annual Taste Of The NFL. As Team Draft’s representatives at the “Party With A Purpose,” the survivors had the opportunity to meet NFL legends from around the League and sample dishes from some of the best chefs in the country. Kathy O’Brien of Westfield, New Jersey, thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. She was driving her three kids to school two years ago when she noticed that the stop sign was blurry. Her eye doctor sent her to a retina specialist, who spotted six tumors in her left eye and four in her right. The next day — after a battery of tests including an MRI and a CT scan — Kathy was in an oncologist’s office, blindsided by news that was beyond shocking: She had stage IV lung cancer. “Never in a million years did I think I’d hear something like that,” says Kathy, who had recently run her fifth marathon and had become certified as a Bar Method exercise instructor. “It seemed impossible because I had never smoked.” Read more: www.fitnessmagazine.com/health/body/head-to-toe/lung-cancer-in-non-smokers/ Abraham Almanza In 1998, I was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer at the age of 15. I would later turn 16 in the hospital not knowing if I would live to see my 17th birthday. Being the son of a smoker (who through Gods grace has now quit), my initial thought was that secondhand smoke had something to do with my diagnosis. The doctors could never pinpoint the exact cause of my cancer but would later tell me it was probably acquired in utero and it just happened to lodge itself in my lungs. Whatever the case may be, I had cancer and needed to fight to see another birthday. Through the power of prayer, family and medicine I was successfully treated with 4 rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Special thanks to the Taste of the NFL for joining Team Draft in making this experience possible. Team Draft, an initiative of the Chris Draft Family Foundation, is dedicated to raising lung cancer awareness and increasing badly needed research funding by shattering the misconception that lung cancer is a “smoker’s disease.” The fact is, anybody can get lung cancer. Yet, despite the fact that between 20,000 and 30,000 people who have never smoked—including Keasha Rutledge Draft—are diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States each year, the smoking stigma negatively impacts lung cancer research funding, which pales in comparison to funding for other major cancers and diseases. Team Draft is out to change all that. “If we can take away the stigma that says you have to be a smoker to get lung cancer, we have a real chance to educate people about the true nature of the disease,” explains Draft. Since Chris and Keasha launched Team Draft at their wedding in November of 2011, Team Draft has been on a mission to tackle cancer. Team Draft’s national campaign to raise public awareness and share the hope that now exists for those diagnosed with the disease has taken it to over 70 of the top cancer research and treatment facilities in North America. “Our hope is not only to positively impact research funding, but to improve the quality of life for those affected by lung cancer,” says Draft. “We aren’t fighting against lung cancer, we’re fighting for people. That’s why we are leading this national campaign to change the face of lung cancer.” About The Chris Draft Family Foundation and Team Draft Through its Team Draft initiative, the Foundation is carrying on Keasha’s fight to tackle cancer by promoting awareness, research, and scholarship and to save lives by changing the face of lung cancer. Team Draft is dedicated to raising awareness, accelerating research for a cure, and giving hope, comfort, and inspiration to the patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers who are battling the disease every day. To learn more about Team Draft, share your story, and respond and donate, please visit www.teamdraft.org. |
Awareness • Early Detection • Treatment • Research • Survivorship