Lung cancer kills more Americans than breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers combined. This year over 157,000 people will die of lung cancer; this is 28% of all cancer deaths. While advances have been made in the treatment of many other cancers, often due to tests which have enabled early detection of these diseases, treatments for lung cancer have remained relatively static. The five year survival rate for lung cancer is approximately 15% because most patients are diagnosed in the later stages. Research indicates that the survival rate could increase up to 50% if the cancer is caught in its earliest stages.

Funding for lung cancer research, however, is dramatically behind funding for other cancers. Our purpose is to raise money to find methods for early detection. We have chosen to work with Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland because the Cancer Center there is actively engaged in research to detect and treat the early onset of lung cancer. We believe that if a way can be found to detect lung cancer in its earliest stages this disease could be treated successfully as many cases of breast and prostate cancer are.

This Foundation is dedicated to the lives and memories of Jack Mewhiney and his daughter Amy, who both died of cancer.