BEVERLY — LUNGSTRONG’s annual 5K run and 1.5 walk event, held on Sunday, May 17, at 72 Cherry St., raised $105,000 for the Mass General Brigham Cancer Center.
“This year, we had 500 participants and our new team, Katie’s Krew, raised $23,000,” said Jill O’Leary, LUNGSTRONG board member and event organizer. “Special thanks to our many sponsors, volunteers and vendors who helped to make this a successful event.”
Katie’s Krew captain, Katie Kostis of Dover, New Hampshire, spoke of her recent lung cancer diagnosis.
“As a healthy, active 44-year-old with no smoking history that generally takes really, really good care of myself,” said Kostis, “and someone who was not suspecting anything was wrong with me, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer that had metastasized to my lymph nodes and brain.”
She assumed, like many, that lung cancer was a smoker’s disease and that would come with obvious signs like coughing and breathing problems. Instead, it was flashes of light in her eye that led her to scans and ultimately a diagnosis.
LUNGSTRONG’s founder, Diane Legg, survived for 20 years with Stage 4 lung cancer, thanks to medical advances and clinical trials that evolved since her diagnosis. She lost her cancer battle in December 2024, but her legacy lives on.
Since its inception in 2011, LUNGSTRONG has raised $9 million for innovative lung cancer research between its 5K event, its signature Live It Up fundraiser, and its Cheers to a Cure campaign with restaurant partners and funds raised from the annual Pan-Mass Challenge two-day bike event in August.
Next year, the LUNGSTRONG 1.5K walk will be held on Sunday, June 6, in Beverly. Participants will have an option of running a virtual 5K or doing a virtual 1.5 walk if they are unable to participate the day of the event.
For more information about LUNGSTRONG, visit www.lungstrong.org.