Chatham Health Initiative Focuses on Lung Cancer
SILER CITY, NC--(May 17, 2011) The Dusty Joy Foundation, a nonprofit promoting lung cancer education, early detection and compassion for those touched by the disease, will present Chatham Health Initiative: Lung Cancer at 9 am, June 4, at Heaven's Manna Saints of God Ministries church located off Highway 64 East in Siler City. The event is free and open to the public.
Speakers include Mike Lunsford and Dusty Donaldson. Lunsford is a radon expert with the NC Radiation Protection Service. He will discuss radon which is the second-leading cause of lung cancer and the #1 cause of lung cancer in people who never smoked.
Ms. Donaldson is a lung cancer survivor and founder of the Dusty Joy Foundation. She will share her personal story and Uncommon Lung Cancer Facts. Following the presentation, the Dusty Joy Foundation will conduct a balloon release to pay tribute to the residents of Chatham County who will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year.
Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer of men and women. It claims nearly twice as many women as breast cancer and three times as many men as prostate cancer. Lung cancer kills more people than breast, colon, prostate and pancreatic cancers combined. Statewide, 7,822 North Carolinians will be diagnosed with lung cancer and 5,934 will die from lung cancer in 2011, according to the North Carolina Central Cancer Registry.
In Chatham County, 66 people will be diagnosed this year and 50 will die from lung cancer. Dusty Joy will release one balloon for each life diagnosed in Chatham County this year. Clear balloons represent lung cancer deaths while red balloons represent those in the community surviving lung cancer.
ABOUT THE DUSTY JOY FOUNDATION
The Dusty Joy Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization based in North Carolina, uses balloons to help bring levity to a serious topic. Symbolic of our lungs, balloons floating toward heaven also represent our hopes for tomorrow. The balloons are environmentally friendly, organic and biodegradable. For more information about the Dusty Joy Foundation, visit www.DustyJoy.org.
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