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Making a Difference to Beat Lung Cancer

December 2015 Vol 1 No 6

The following section features a selection of patient stories submitted to the 2015 Hero of Hope Patient Award. These stories illustrate the range of extraordinary patient profiles submitted by patients, family members, friends, and healthcare providers.

“Hope” is Jill Libles Feldman’s mantra in her personal battle with lung cancer. Jill lost her mom, dad, aunt, and 2 grandparents to lung cancer before she was 30. She got involved with LUNGevity in 2001, and it wasn’t long before she realized that even with lung cancer, anything could happen.

Jill became friends with several of the LUNGevity founders, who died of lung cancer far too young. These women were her inspiration to commit to making a difference in this disease. She became a board member, and later president of this new organization. Within a few years, it was named by Charity Navigator as the fastest-growing charity in the country.

Jill was successful in helping create a team based on commitment, hard work, trust, and heart. To date, LUNGevity has funded 110 research projects at 57 institutions. LUNGevity also provides a community of support for everyone affected by lung cancer through educational resources, online peer-to-peer support, and live survivorship programs, as well as more than 80 awareness and fundraising events. Since 2002, LUNGevity raised more than $19 million for lung cancer research.

Jill worked hard so she wouldn’t have to see another person she knew get a lung cancer diagnosis, but the unthinkable happened—she became the patient. In January 2009, at age 38, she was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Jill empowers other patients through her advocacy, sharing her passion for raising awareness and money for lung cancer research. Instead of feeling helpless, she tells her kids to focus on what they can do. In late 2012, Deerfield High School students raised a record-breaking $135,000 for the LUNGevity Foundation. Jill also reviews research projects for the Department of Defense as a patient advocate and travels to Washington, DC, to have her voice heard.

Jill says, “I can, I have, and I will continue to make a difference. I have been fighting lung cancer both indirectly and now directly for almost 33 years. I was first diagnosed with lung cancer 6 years ago, and while I expected a much different, cancer-free journey, I have beaten the odds, and I am grateful for my good fortune. But, I still have incurable lung cancer. I can help raise awareness and money to fund research that can save hundreds of thousands of lives, including my own. That is the only control I have over lung cancer.”

I have known Jill for more than 10 years, and I admire her strength, resilience, and grace in living with lung cancer. I am privileged to be her nurse. Every gift she has given me carries the message “hope.” There is no stronger survivor or generous spirit than hers. I am so honored to know Jill and call her my friend.

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