Archives > News Update
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Game, set and match: Courts for a Cure tennis tournament raises lung cancer awareness
By Kim Nguyen, Staff Writer
Last year’s Courts for the Cure fundraiser was a smashing success and this year, event staff are looking forward to another fun-filled tournament in May.
In honor of Sarah Farmer, a Plano mother of three who was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer and died in January 2008, the Courts for the Cure tennis tournament will take place on May 2 at Collin College’s Spring Creek campus in Plano. The tournament benefits the National Lung Cancer Partnership (NLCP), strives to decrease lung cancer deaths and help patients live longer and healthier lives through research, awareness and advocacy.
The third annual tournament began after Farmer’s diagnosis and has continued to honor her name by raising lung cancer awareness in the community, said Una McKeen, tournament chairwoman.
The playgroup moms decided to start a tennis camp and organize a tournament. Farmer found a small lump on her neck about a week before the tournament was to take place and went to the doctor for a diagnosis. The doctor’s diagnosis of Stage IV lung cancer was made fairly quickly. Farmer’s diagnosis was sudden and surprising to everyone around her, including herself, McKeen said.
“There’s a negative stigma with lung cancer. People automatically assume that someone with lung cancer is or was a heavy smoker,” McKeen said. “But that’s not the case, especially Sarah’s case. She was a non-smoker who was diagnosed with lung cancer.”
According to NLCP, lung cancer kills more than 160,000 people in the United States each year — more people than breast, colon and prostate cancers combined. Additionally, nearly 85 percent of people who are diagnosed with lung cancer will die of it within five years of their initial diagnosis. It is estimated that 10-15 percent of lung cancer cases are diagnosed in people that have never smoked. Most of these patients are women and it has become increasingly more common for non-smoking women to be diagnosed with lung cancer. Statistics shows that one out of five women diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked compared to one out of 10 men.
Farmer’s doctors speculated that she would not live much longer and estimated that she would not see more than six months.
“Her husband was able to get her into a clinical trial that treated her cancer very aggressively,” McKee said. “But that required them to travel to Houston every weekend, when all she wanted to do was stay at home with her kids.”
The playgroup moms were so desperate to help and support the Farmers during their trials that they started a fundraiser to benefit a non-profit cancer awareness group.
“She would’ve wanted us to continue to honor her by donating to the National Lung Cancer Partnership,” McKeen said. “Their initiatives to raise awareness in women matched her perfectly because she was a young woman who had never thought she’d get lung cancer.”
Farmer was able to attend and play in the first Courts for the Cure tennis tournament. Her friends and family were able to collect nearly $12,000 for the NLCP.
Though Farmer died in January 2008, McKeen and the other playgroup moms are keeping her spirit alive by spreading awareness and raising funds to benefit the NLCP. In 2008, there were more than 130 players in the tournament and altogether, the fundraiser accumulated nearly $20,000.
“We’re continuing to honor her name by raising awareness for lung cancer,” McKeen said. “Lung cancer patients find themselves to be very lonely. A lot of other cancers have a little glimmer of hope because there is so much awareness and attention to public fundraising, but unfortunately there’s not as much with lung cancer. Those patients deserve some attention for having to undergo something as awful as lung cancer.”
The National Lung Cancer Partnership (formerly Women Against Lung Cancer) is a non-profit organization, originally formed in 2001, and officially incorporated in 2003. Our mission is to decrease deaths due to lung cancer, and help patients live longer and better, through research, awareness, and advocacy. Information about the National Lung Cancer Partnership is available online at www.nationallungcancerpartnership.com.
The Sarah Farmer Courts for the Cure Tennis Tournament will take place on May 2 at the Collin County Community College’s Spring Creek campus, located at 2800 E. Spring Creek Parkway in Plano. Registration for the women’s doubles tournament is $70 per team and the deadline to enter is April 17. Information regarding registration and sponsorship opportunities is available online at www.courtsforacure.org.
Contact Kim Nguyen at knguyen@acnpapers.com
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: News Update «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
