Let’s call this a “guest post”… This weekend my sisters and I will be raising funds and awareness for lung cancer research before, during and after the University of Louisville’s football game against WVU at noon on Saturday. We’re hosting a birthday cookout for my mom, Nancy Huhn, at the Parrish House at which we’ll be offering free hot chocolate, coffee, donuts, hot dogs, and, well, some literature that helps people understand how poorly funded and misunderstood lung cancer is given the stigma associated with smoking cigarettes.
We’re on a mission to make a difference and hope you can help us simply by showing up and learning more about what you can do to help. Even if you don’t want to partake in all the free goodies, please come by and help me with a C-A-R-D-S cheer! I’ll let my mom take it from here…
My name is Nancy Huhn. I am a two year survivor of lung cancer. The lung cancer diagnosis was my 50th birthday present. It’s hard enough to hit one of those milestones, but learning you are now fighting for your life quickly eliminated any concerns about wrinkles and gray hair.
Because I have never smoked, doctor’s were baffled when my chest pain turned out to be cancer. (In fact, I had to request the chest X-ray!) When I asked the doctors what caused this, I was shocked to learn, just how
little they know about the causes. As we both know, lung cancer is not a lifestyle choice. I thought about several factors against me. I grew up in a home with chain smokers, neither of whom died from lung cancer. Our home had a coal furnace. I worked in smoking environments up until 15 years earlier. The doctors believe that none of that was a factor. We then had the radon levels tested in our home of 11 years, we were shocked to learn we had an average reading of 12.4. Being Stage IV, they said, my cancer was probably present for 5-6 years.
The oncologist I saw here in Louisville, recommended that I go to a National Cancer center and try to get involved in a clinical trial. I was in a clinical trial until this summer, when a tumor began to grow in my left eye. I am being treated by Dr. Alan Sandler at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Everything about Vanderbilt is impressive, and I wish we could offer similar care in every US city.
In honor of my 52nd birthday, my children are hosting a Lung Cancer Awareness fund raiser. The fund raiser will be held this Saturday at the University of Louisville vs West Virginia University game. This has become
a big rivalry in the Big East Conference and we’re expecting a big crowd. We’ve had many things donate from a variety of businesses and friends.
We’ll be offering hot dogs, hot chocolate, cookies, donuts, coffee, etc to any interested passers-by.
The money we collect will be sent to the Lung Cancer Foundation of America. After searching around, we liked this organization the best when trying to match up our long term desires for funding more research to
prevent lung cancer.
Thank you in advance for your support, and we look forward to seeing many friends and fellow University of Louisville fans [and maybe a WVU fan as well] this weekend. Happy birthday, Mom, and Go Cards! -NH
