Updated December 14🎄🎅🏼🙏.

Last year at this time (Fall 2018) I had never heard of ALK + Lung Cancer...now I’ve clogged up my hard drive and my brain with information to try and understand the situation that I’m in and to help those around me to understand what’s going on.

As a reminder, 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. In summer 2019 I attended a meeting in Atlanta organized by ALK + Lung Cancer survivors and families. The message was information is power, research saves lives and that I should have hope because the researchers are working hard to make the treatments work longer. They are excited and hopeful. I do have hope...and my treatments are working extremely well!

My team is on it! My friends and family are on it! I’m establishing relationships with the very best medical people and with many very informed patients and caregivers to help make sure that I know of and receive the best treatments for ALK + Lung Cancer.

It has been amazing to see the support for this fundraising effort so far...thank you🙏👍. If anyone you know is in the middle of a Lung Cancer diagnosis please make sure that they have testing done for bio markers. The existence of and identification of bio markers is required to choose the most effective treatments. At best the correct treatment can lead to more time to make joyful memories. At worst lack of bio marker testing can lead to ineffective or dangerous treatment options being given.

I’ve updated this message and continue to raise funds in support of research into new treatment modalities for people in my situation and thought that maybe you can share this message with a few people. We need to keep the research projects and clinical trials moving ahead. Money is the fuel for this machine to keep moving and research will save lives...maybe my life!

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for a Healthy 2020!

All the best,

Craig Smith