Lungbuster helps to spread hope

Seven years ago, doctors blindsided Mukilteo School District teacher Amie Parker when they diagnosed her with stage-four lung cancer.

Parker, a nonsmoker, was a runner with an active lifestyle. But a persistent cough that would not go away sent her to the doctor in April 2017. Various medications and treatments didn’t alleviate Parker’s symptoms, and in October she was referred to a lung specialist. Tests revealed a diagnosis that left Parker, husband Tony, and sons Noah and Luke stunned.

Seven years later, a resolute Parker stood before hundreds of friends and supporters at the seventh annual Lungbuster 5K race on Oct. 6 at Columbia Elementary School.

“When I was diagnosed in 2017, my one goal was to get my boys through high school,” said Parker, her voice shaking with emotion. “Thanks to research and the two clinical trials I’ve been in, that’s going to happen.”

Many of the runners and walkers were familiar faces to Parker, but the fundraiser also attracted new supporters.

“I was pleasantly surprised by how many new people we had on our registration list this year,” Parker said.

She described how, after her lung cancer diagnosis, she and her friends didn’t realize that healthy people were being diagnosed with lung cancer. “We soon learned that lung cancer has a huge disparity in funding for lung cancer research because of the stigma attached to the cancer,” Parker said.

She noted that even though lung cancer kills

about as many as the next three cancers – breast, prostate, and colon – it receives significantly less funding than the other cancers.

Parker and her friends established Lungbuster to raise money to help decrease that disparity.

The nonprofit has raised $100,000, which was donated to ROS1ders, an organization of people with ROS1+, the rare type of lung cancer Parker has.

“That money went to the ROS1ders because they’re the only organization we know of that is actively funding research projects for ROS1+ cancer,” Parker said.

The ROS1+ mutation accounts for only 1% to 2% of lung cancers; the small numbers mean that it’s difficult to convince pharmaceutical companies to do research on treatments, Parker said.

Parker and 50 other ROS1+ cancer patients attended the inaugural ROS1ders convention in August in Colorado. The exciting news Parker shared was that they were able to see how some of Lungbuster’s funds are being used as part of a seed grant at the University of Colorado. Parker toured the labs.

“We talked to people doing the research, and for the patients it was really inspiring. It brought a lot of hope,” she said. “But when I talked to one of the researchers, they’ve never had patients come through the labs before. They’ve had academics. They’ve had doctors. But when the patients came through, and they were able to interact with us, and we interacted with them, they really got a sense of why their work is so important.

“They got to see the people that they were hoping to make a better life for.”

Parker said another seed grant is being researched in Germany, and two more are scheduled for later this year.

“The money we’re raising here is doing great and wonderful things,” Parker said.

More information about Lungbuster: lungbuster.org

Repeat winners

Kamiak’s Cole Henriksen was the overall winner in Sunday’s Lungbuster 5K with a time of 19 minutes 50.1 seconds. Henriksen tied for first last year with Reece Raaum. The top female finisher was Harbour Pointe’s Grace Gilson (22:48.5) for the third straight year.