Three Interviews and a Fundraiser

I've had several recent opportunities to share my lung cancer story and to advocate for more research funding.  It just happened that these three interviews were released so close together that I am sharing all with you in one post.

Team Draft Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge

I took the challenge this year.  I've been fundraising for Lung Cancer Colorado Fund to support the groundbreaking lung cancer research and treatment developments at the University of Colorado Lung Cancer program.  I earned the chance to go to the Pro Bowl to experience the events while I share my lung cancer story and advocate for awareness and lung cancer research funding.  Click HERE or the Pro Bowl logo to see a Team Draft video about my fundraiser.

 

You can help me reach my $50,000 fundraising goal .  Click HERE or the donate button to submit a tax deductible donation today. Donations can be made through Super Bowl Sunday, February 2, 2020. 

            

Living Lives with Lung Cancer website interview

LLwLC is a website focusing on lung cancer patients and survivors living and thriving in spite of their diagnosis.  I'm lucky enough to be one of the first to be interviewed.  I can't wait to see and read upcoming inspirational stories from fellow lung cancer patients. Click HERE or the zipline photo collage to read my interview.

https://livingliveswithlungcancer.com/meet-lisa-peace-lungs-happiness/

Cincinnati radio/podcast interview

Melissa and I recorded this interview in November 2019.  I think it was originally an hour and ten or twenty minutes long.  The Medical Apocalypse doesn't really have a Cliff's Notes version.  Melissa did a wonderful job editing that down for the show.  you can hear the interview HERE or click this video.

Party With a Purpose

Eighteen years ago, in 1999, I wanted to start my own business. I dreamed of being a party/event planner. But I also wanted to work in the non profit sector. I came up with an idea of planning parties for fundraising events. An example would be a birthday party. It's your birthday. Instead of having a party and receiving gifts, you ask your guests to make a donation to the charity of your choice. I even named my business, Party With a Purpose. But I had just moved to a new state. I was not familiar with the town and vendors that I would need to collaborate with to plan successful events. Party With a Purpose never came to life.

Fast forward to 2017. I won a trip to the Taste of the NFL in Houston, TX. The Taste of the NFL rallies the country's top chefs and the NFL's greatest players to raise money in support of food banks throughout the United States.  They raise funds online, Taste of the NFL events hosted by individual NFL teams and the Super Bowl Taste of the NFL -The Party With a Purpose®.

Yes, Party With a Purpose!!!!! Something that I dreamed of so long ago is real. And I got to be a part of it. I want to thank Team Draft and the Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge for the opportunity to be a part of this year's Party With a Purpose.

I got choked up in my video because of the special meaning behind Party With a Purpose.

Balancing Act

People that don't know me can't look at me and know I have stage iv lung cancer. On the outside I look perfectly healthy. There are mornings that I look at myself in the mirror and can't believe I have stage iv lung cancer. There are moments where I feel perfectly healthy.

Next week is my quarterly scan, blood work and follow up with my oncologist. This week is my quarterly freak out with scanxiety. This is the week I fight with my brain and body to think positive and feel good.

Like clockwork, just in time for my scan, I have issues that could be cancer related or it could just be nothing. It could be cancer progression or it could just be cancer treatment side effects. Or it could just be NOTHING.

In the past I've taken pride in myself for being forever optimistic. It's something that just comes natural. I don't have to force myself to think positive. It just happens. As an adult, anxiety and over-thinking hasn't been too much of an issue. That's until I was diagnosed with lung cancer. Now, at times, I find myself not sleeping enough. In those hours I should be sound asleep, I'm wondering and worrying about lung cancer and things that I have no control over.

At least I recognize there is a problem. So in the normal people, daytime hours, I keep myself busy. This is one of the reasons I'm so very thankful I'm able to work. While I'm at work and out delivering mail, I don't think about lung cancer or upcoming oncology appointments. I put on my uniform and I'm in what I call, "mailman mode". It also wasn't hard to keep my mind occupied when I entered the Team Draft Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge. Fundraising, posting updates and planning has kept my mind occupied since my last scan at the end of October.

Last year I followed the contest online. I cheered on my fellow Colorado lung cancer survivors while it gave me hope for my future and for the possibility of entering the contest myself one day. This year I entered and I won! I was the third highest fundraiser. I'm going to go to Houston the week of Super Bowl to attend the Taste of the NFL.

Taste of the NFL, February 4, 2017,
Houston, TX

I take the good with the bad. It's a balancing act. This week the bad is simply manifested thoughts and cancer anxieties. The good is the anticipation of three wonderful, action packed, days in Houston with fun, food and the overall NFL experience. Who knows what next week will bring. Hopefully, a sigh of relief followed by three wonderful days in Houston.

Giving and Receiving

Giving Tuesday was followed by Overwhelmed Wednesday. I expected a few additional donations to my Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge on Tuesday due to the nature of the day. But I never imagined I would receive nearly $2K in one day. That amount is amazing. I'm so grateful for everyone's generosity.

Giving Tuesday was a great big success. I created a one day Facebook fundraiser that will be matched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as part of their Giving Tuesday campaign. That means the $742 that was donated will become $1,484!!!! In addition to the donation made directly at my contest site, the Giving Tuesday donations totalled $1984!!!!

I have taken advantage of opportunities presented to me to represent the lung cancer community. One is the chance of going to the Super Bowl, the Pro Bowl or the Taste of NFL as a lung cancer patient advocate while raising awareness of lung cancer and the need for research funds.

At this point 50% of the donations collected will be be donated to the foundation of my choice, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). When my donation total reaches $5,000, 80% will be donated to IASLC.

Thank you to everyone that donated and shared my fundraiser links. Because of you I'm currently in the top running for the Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge.

The Facebook fundraiser was a one day event. But the Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge is not over. You can still donate until January 1, 2017.

Click the link on my blog or HERE to donate today.

Super Bowl Challenge

I kicked off my Cleveland Fans Against Lung Cancer fundraising campaign this month. This is part Team Draft's 2017 Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge. This is a friendly competition between lung cancer survivors to raise funds for lung cancer foundations and cancer centers of the survivor's choice. The survivor that raises the most funds will win a trip to the Super Bowl in Houston, TX. Second place is a trip to the Pro Bowl in Orlando, FL and third place gets to attend  26th Annual Taste of NFL.

I set my fundraising goal high. I know with your help I can reach that goal. Lung cancer research funds are critical to my future and my quality of life.

My funds will be donated to the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer in Denver, CO. I attended my first lung cancer event in September 2015. It was just two weeks after my stage iv lung cancer diagnosis. That event was the Pancake Walk Kickoff Breakfast for the World Conference on Lung Cancer in Denver. That day I was introduced to a handful of peopleand survivors in the lung cancer community. They gave me information, hope and advice that I will always remember and hold near and dear to my heart.

In Week 10 of  NFL season, the Browns have an 0-10 record. The Cleveland Browns may not be going to the Super Bowl this year. I may never get to see the Browns at a Super Bowl in my lifetime. But you could help send this Cleveland fan to the big game this year.

Together we can #tacklelungcancer.

I challenge you to make a donation today and find one (or more) person to match your donation.

Click HERE to make a donation today.

How Lucky Am I?

"How lucky am I?" I couldn't begin to tell you how many times I've said that since my August 2015 lung cancer diagnosis.

From testing positive for the EGFR genetic mutation

to

living within 75 miles of one of the best lung cancer research facilities and oncologists in the world

to

the support of my friends and family and their friends and families

to

having the quality of life I have being able to live with stage iv lung cancer, how lucky am I?

In February 2016 my friend, Todd, asked me to taste test a beer he had brewed in bottles at his home. It was a very good beer. He said he wanted me to name the beer and he would brew it in my honor. After a couple days of brainstorming we came up with Lisa's Luck Amber Ale.

Who gets a beer named after them?

How Lucky Am I?

During the brainstorming sessions, we discussed the possibilities of using Lisa's Luck Amber Ale to spread lung cancer awareness. We also talked about maybe donating a portion of the proceeds to lung cancer research. But there are licensing issues and liquor laws that keep home brewers from producing and selling their beers, even if it is for charity.

It was brewing talent, not luck, that brought Lisa's Luck to life. Earlier in the year Todd submitted his Lisa's Luck Amber Ale entry in the Fifth Street Brew Pub's Homebrew Beer Contest. He won. Lisa's Luck Amber Ale was produced on a large scale.

The Lisa's Luck Amber Ale Tapping Party was on Saturday, September 17, 2016. My friends and family donated money to buy me a round trip ticket to fly from Colorado to Ohio to attend the event. I was able to meet some of the Fifth Street board members. They said how much they liked the beer, commented on Todd's brewing talent and added, they didn't know the lung cancer back story until after Lisa's Luck won the competition.

.

It was meant to be.

During the event I was able to share my story and make an announcement that I will be entering the Team Draft Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge this winter. This is a friendly competition among football fans that are surviving lung cancer while raising funds for lung cancer research. First place is a trip to the Super Bowl. Second is a trip to the Pro Bowl. Third place is a trip to The Taste of NFL.

Proceeds from the Fifth Street Lisa's Luck Amber Ale event will be the first donations to my Cleveland Fans Against Lung Cancer Campaign. The beneficiary of my donations will be the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.

Lisa's Luck Amber Ale is now available, for a limited time, at two Dayton area locations, Fifth Street Brew Pub in Dayton, OH and Sea Jax Tavern, in Kettering, OH. We heard news of interest from another Dayton area brew pub also.

What's better than drinking great tasting beer? Drinking great tasting beer for a great cause!

How Lucky Am I?

Peace Lungs and Football

I ran into an old gym friend and postal customer this week while I was at work. It had been over a year since we last spoke.  He asked how I was doing.  I said I was fine but followed with, "You won't believe what happened to me. I still can't believe it myself." I proceeded to give him my most condensed version of my lung cancer story. I've got it down to a few sentences for situations like this.

"In August 2015 I was diagnosed stage iv lung cancer. My cancer has a specific genetic mutation. My chemo is a pill. My last scan showed no evidence of disease. I love my job, so I'm still working and things are going well."

I'm very public with my story on Facebook, Twitter and this blog.  My co-workers know about my lung cancer. Delivering mail is one of the few things I have that isn't connected to lung cancer and being sick. I've been very selective in telling only a handful of customers about my diagnosis. But the very few that do know are now my biggest cheerleaders. I know it's no coincidence that the people I chose were either a cancer survivor themselves, had a personal connection to lung cancer or had a close family member diagnosed with cancer after I shared my story.

 

I've had the privilege to publicly share my lung cancer story two times this month. The first was at the Denver Lung Force Walk. It was such an honor to share my story along with three other Lung Force Heroes. Every story you hear starts with the initial lung cancer diagnosis shock and continues with courage, bravery, inspiration and hope.

I was a member of the Lung Force Walk Committee. This was my first time volunteering on the committee. It was exciting to help plan and be behind the scenes of such a successful event.  Thank you to everyone that participated and donated. We exceeded our fundraising goal by raising over $40,000!!!

 

On June 17, 2016 I shared my lung cancer story at the Patient Advocate Breakfast at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.

Patient Advocate Speakers with IASLC staff

At the breakfast I heard the perspective of lung cancer from a 10 year old boy, Coy, who's mother, Kathy Weber, is a lung cancer survivor. If that doesn't hit you in the heart, I don't know what will. Kathy and Coy also spoke of their Pro Bowl experience. Kathy was the second highest fundraiser for last year's Team Draft Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge. Kathy and her family won a trip to the Pro Bowl. I've been interested in this contest since the first time I heard of it.

 

Football and the Cleveland Browns have been a big part of my life. Even more so this last year. I received my lung cancer diagnosis during the NFL 2015/16 preseason. Jeremy and I attended the first preseason game together. At that point we knew I had non small cell, adenocarcinoma.



Browns preseason game, August 13, 2015

The next afternoon was the appointment when we found out it was stage iv. The Cleveland Browns and the Pikes Peak Browns Backers were there for me each week during the first couple months of testing to getting my full diagnosis and adjusting to my radiation and targeted therapy treatments. At the time I was scared to make plans and go places. I called going to games my "Football Therapy". Watching the Browns is not so therapeutic for my blood pressure.  But it felt good to get up and out of the house each Sunday. Treatment could take my energy. But it was NOT going to take away my Browns.

 

Another speaker at the breakfast was Chris Draft, founder of the Chris Draft Family Foundation and Co-founder of Team Draft. Chris' wife, Keasha Rutledge Draft, lost her life to lung cancer in 2011. He is my lung cancer advocacy and fundraising hero. I didn't hesitate to tell him either.  He's an inspiration to me to continue to raise funds and to share my story as often and as loudly as possible while spreading lung cancer awareness.