Lisa, I'm with you. We need to use our unique positions as survivors to advocate for more research funding. I've been giving lung cancer awareness talks at my workplace and was joined by the Director of Lung Cancer screening at my local cancer institute during my last presentation.

She told me about GO2 for Lung Cancer, go2.org, which is the largest fundraiser for lung cancer research dollars in the U.S. They've helped raise over $200M to date. I'll be traveling to their annual Summit in Washington, D.C. in early March as a survivor advocate. There, I will join other advocates, including survivors, caregivers, and members of the medical community, to present our reasons for advocacy to our Congressional leaders. My wife and I already have appointments scheduled to speak directly with our local representatives. Those meetings were arranged by GO2. Through GO2, I've received instructions on how to be an effective advocate, both in the 15-minute meeting with our representatives and with the local media.

I don't know how much time I have left, none of us do. But I'm determined to use whatever time I have left to advocate for increased awareness, more lung cancer screenings, more money for research, and anything else I can do to keep other people from having to go through what I've gone through and am going through.