The 2014 edition of the “Strides for Life 9,” the three-mile run or walk to raise funds to lung cancer research, recently united hundreds of people in Southampton, New York on Sunday, August 10th to support the cause. The event, which was the first of its kind, is organized by the Lung Cancer Research Foundation and takes place around the scenic Lake Agawam.
The funds raised will be used to support leading cancer research institutions across the country, including Memorial Sloan Kettering, Dana Farber, Weil Cornell, and Yale. Since the first edition of the event in 2005, the Lung Cancer Research Foundation has already awarded grants for more than 90 lung cancer research projects.
“We truly appreciate the overwhelming support for Strides for Life from the Southampton community and beyond,” explained the LCRF Board Chair Pippa Gerard. “The many generous donations in support of lung cancer research are inspiring. All donations and registration fees at Strides for Life will go directly to scientific researchers who are looking for innovative ways to fight lung cancer.”
Not only professional runners, but also first-time runners, walkers, families, lung cancer survivors, and current patients were among the hundreds of people who registered for this year’s event. Besides their fundraising efforts, Strides for Life 9 is also committed to raising awareness for the disease and its devastating effects. The LCRF Board of Directors cover all of the race costs in order to allow the funds raised to be completely directed to support research.
Lung cancer is the most deadly cancer among both genders worldwide, with over 220,000 new cases diagnosed every year in the United States alone, according to the American Cancer Society. Each year, more men and women in the United States die of lung cancer than breast, prostate, ovarian, and colorectal cancers combined. However, lung cancer receives less federal research funding per death than any of the other major cancers, as noted by the Lung Cancer Research Foundation.
The race was chaired by Libby Abelt, Marjorie Adams, Alexis Bodenheimer, Podi Constantiner, Amalia Dayan Lindemann,Kristina Fink, Celia Gerard, Pippa Gerard, Eugenie Niven Goodman, Jessica Kisling, Kimberly Kravis Schulhof, Sherie Moalemzadeh, Alan Mnuchin and Alessandra Rampogna, David Monk, Megan Nadosy Magyar, Fernanda Niven, Roxanne Palin, Dorothy Palin, Andrea Palin Fayer, Dana Rubin, Harlan and Brian Saroken, Gambrelle Snyder, David Weinstein, Rose Ann Weinstein, Carol Weisman, Virginia Wettlaufer, and Karen and Gary Yablon.
