In honor of November being declared Lung Cancer Awareness Month for the 1st time in Illinois, join us as we make this disease less invisible at the 1st Annual Walk & Rally for Lung Cancer.

Lung Cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., and kills more Americans each year than colon, breast and prostate cancers combined! Yet it receives little attention, has very few walks and rallies, and gets little support. For the 160,000 people who died last year of lung cancer and the many more who have died in years past, it is time we made this disease less invisible!

November has just been declared Lung Cancer Awareness Month in Illinois. For anyone who has been touched by lung cancer, please join us at the 1st annual Lung Cancer Walk and Rally, benefiting A.L.C.A.S.E., the Alliance for Lung Cancer Advocacy, Support & Education. The 1-mile walk and rally will be on November 8th at 8:30 a.m. at Benet Academy in Lisle, Illinois. There will be food, entertainment, ribbons, t-shirts, and festivities.

In December of 2002, I lost my beloved father, Robert J. Krawitz, to lung cancer. Bob Krawitz was a loving father, uncle and brother, who treated everyone with tremendous love and compassion. He is only one of the approximately 160,000 beloved Americans who died of respiratory cancers last year-more than the combined total of 40,000 breast cancer deaths, 56,600 colorectal cancer deaths, 30,200 prostate cancer deaths, 13,100 brain cancer deaths, and 21,700 deaths from all of the leukemias.

Unfortunately, as one looks for rallies or walks to attend that are aimed at fighting lung cancer, one is bombarded with walks for other cancers, but none for lung cancer. As one looks on www.google.com for more information about Lung Cancer Awareness Month, one receives only 821 hits, verses the 59,700 hits for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In addition, on www.google.com, there are less than 5 hits for lung cancer walks, but about 15,000 hits for breast cancer walks.

While we certainly need to have this type of attention focused on breast and other cancers, lung cancer also deserves tremendous attention!

Interestingly, the ribbon for lung cancer awareness is a clear ribbon with an outline around it, symbolizing the fact that lung cancer is really an invisible disease that few pay attention to. During the walk and rally, each member will have a chance to fill-in" a large poster of the ribbon, so that at the end of the rally, we will no longer be so invisible!

There are tens of thousands of people in Chicago who have been touched by this disease! Please come and show that we are not invisible!

-Renee Kosiarek
Adjunct Instructor, DePaul University College of Law & Waubonsee Community College
630-357-2276 (I am available for questions and/or interviews)!