It is hard for me to believe that on 3/24/26, I will be celebrating my 5th Re-Birthday! That is what I call the day I collapsed at work, broke my neck, arrested 3 times, was in the ICU 8 days and lead to my diagnosis of a very rare type of Stage 4 metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. At that time, no one expected me to live 3 days, much less 5 years! This year I am celebrating my Re-Birthday on the 21st, by walking in the 2026 Lung Cancer Initiative’s Triangle LUNGe Forward Walk. I am hoping to raise $10,000 for Lung Cancer Research and Survivor Support Services. I am still in this world with God’s grace, excellent care (family, friends, medical community), and state of the art medical research. I have exhausted all available treatments and am currently in an “extended access protocol” for a drug approved by the FDA but not available in the US due to government dysfunction at the DHHS/FDA. Your support is more important this year than ever with the massive cuts to NIH cancer research funding. I hope you will support me and my team - Elissa’s Lions, as I continue to skate on the edge of science!