Over forty people attended the National Shine a Light on Lung Cancer Vigil at the Inlet Town Hall on Tuesday, November 13.
Nationally, over 250 vigils were held to take a stand and help make lung cancer a national public health priority.
Margie O’Hara welcomed the crowd and an opening prayer was delivered by Lorrie Skinner.
A presentation on lung cancer and the advancements being made in the medical field followed by Beverly Chambers Ischia, CNP.
Following the presentation, 24 people were remembered.Their names were read, glow sticks were lit, and a moment of silence was observed.
The purpose of the event, according to co-organizer Adele Burnett, was to honor the memory of those who lost their lives to lung cancer and to increase awareness of the disease to inspire a call to action in support of the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act.
O’Hara asked those in attendance to reach out to their Congressmen and Repre-sentatives to get bills pushed forward so more money is spent on lung cancer awareness and prevention.
“Something that many people do not realize is that every year we lose more people to lung cancer than breast, prostrate, colon and pancreatic cancers combined—yet lung cancer receives the least amount of research dollars of all major cancers,” Burnett said.
Those who were remembered at the ceremony included:
Eddie Murdock, Don Hodel, Ted Payne, Mike Drake, Stearns, Howard Phillips, Jacquelyn Colarusso, Stella Moggia, Kaye Gribneau Ryan, Don Bird, Sydell Shaffer, Mike Maloney, Virginia Burgess, Helene Goodfellow, Hugh Goodfellow, William Marleau, Royal Chadwick, Roger Wabnitz, Bill Wagner, Denny Wojcik, Jeanne Ulrich Romano, Carolyn Domire Ulrich, Jacqueline Young, and George Crafts.
The public can help in the effort to increase research funding for lung cancer by contacting Congress in support of the historic Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act at http://capwiz.com/lungcanceralliance/home/.
