"Breathe Deep" Boston 5K Walk for Lung Cancer

On New Year's Eve 2010 Groton resident Megan Elliott, was in the emergency room with her mother who was having difficulty speaking. Doctors determined Donna Campbell experienced a mini-stroke and ordered a full body scan and found a mass in her lungs. While her cells were being tested for cancer, Donna remained in the hospital for a week, with slurred speech and difficulty finding words.

Elliott and her family learned that stage 3 lung cancer had caused the stroke. Doctors scheduled Donna for a biopsy, but just before surgery, she suffered another stroke. This time affects were so severe, her mobility was impaired. Three weeks later, a third stroke left her paralyzed on her right side.

Elliott took a leave of absence from work, moved her mother into hospice care and with her family, cared for her until she succumbed in March 2011, just after her 59th birthday. From diagnosis to death, lung cancer took Donna in two months. She was a healthy, active mother and wife. She was a former smoker who had quit a decade earlier and received regular physicals.

Needing an outlet to channel her grief, Elliott began to search for organizations that specifically support lung cancer treatment. She found Breathe Deep Boston's website, a 5K walk to raise money for LUNGevity Foundation, which funds critical lung cancer research, including local research projects at Boston universities and hospitals, and advocacy and support across the country. Six months after Donna passed, family, friends, colleagues and neighbors formed "Team D" and laced up to walk in her memory. To date they've raised $3,500. 

On Saturday, Nov. 2 at the DCR's Mother's Rest Area at Carson Beach, South Boston, Team D will walk again, 25 members strong, alongside 2,000 participants in LUNGevity Foundation's eighth annual Breathe Deep Boston 5K Walk. They hope to raise an additional $2,500. Those interested in supporting Team D can visit lungevity.org/boston, click on "donate to this event" button and enter the name Team D to make a donation..

Founded in 2006, Breathe Deep Boston 5K Walk has alone raised more than $1 million. The 2013 fundraising goal is $250,000.

To register for Breathe Deep Boston 5K or to support a walker, visit lungevity.org/boston or call 312-407-6100. Participants may enter discount code BREATHE for $5 off registration fee. Nov. is Lung Cancer Awareness Month.