Last year at this time (Summer and Fall 2018) I was in the best shape of my life, working hard at my business and helping my family through our parents health issues. In January of 2019 I started to feel unwell pretty quickly and developed a cough that would not go away. Fast forward to April 1, 2019 when I was diagnosed with stage 4 Adenocarcinoma Non Small Cell Lung cancer with an ALK + biomarker. If you look this up you will see that this usually occurs in the nonsmoking crowd like me. The ALK+ biomarker is only found in approx. 4% of lung cancers. My team in Ottawa made sure I started my first line Targeted Therapy-Alectinib within days and thankfully I am doing very well for hopefully a long time.

I am raising funds in support of research into new treatment modalities for people in my situation as the Stage 4 diagnosis is incurable (right now!) and is considered terminal. Many people can do very well for years with known Targeted drugs and combinations of radiation and traditional chemo. At some point most people will stop responding to available treatments and this is where research is required. Research teams around the world are working hard to find ways to make this disease respond to treatment for an indefinite time...to be treated as a chronic condition rather than a terminal disease. They really believe that this is possible...but we need to keep the research projects and clinical trials moving ahead.

The month of November is Lung Cancer Awareness month so please consider making a donation of any size. Many people are raising funds to help, so donations from a large number of people can really add up.

Thank you!

Craig Smith

P.S. I mean it...thank you so much!