Williamstown, West Virginia. The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (The James) lung cancer survivor-advocate Dirk Bosgraf was the 1st runner-up in Team Draft’s 2017 Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge. Dirk and his family headed to Orlando, Florida to represent Team Draft at 2017 NFL Pro Bowl.

I’m incredibly honored to have had so much support from family and friends in this year’s Team Draft Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge. Not only was it an important opportunity to raise awareness about lung cancer and increase badly needed research funding, but will also given me the blessing of creating some lifelong memories with my family at this year’s Pro Bowl! Fighting cancer has always been a team effort for me and this is just one more example. Together with organizations like The James Cancer Center, Team Draft and LUNGevity we’re creating a strong network of hope and creating the possibility of winning the fight against lung cancer!

Founded by Draft and his late wife Keasha, who died of lung cancer in 2011 at the age of 38, Team Draft is dedicated to raising lung cancer awareness and increasing badly needed research funding through its Campaign To Change The Face Of Lung Cancer, which is committed to shattering the misconception that lung cancer is a “smoker’s disease.” The centerpiece of Team Draft’s Campaign is its annual Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge.

The Super Bowl Challenge participants were part of a friendly competition, with the top fundraisers awarded trips to Super Bowl LI, the NFL Pro-Bow, the Taste of the NFL, and the NFC Championship game. Jeremy and the other winners, announced on January 2, 2017, will have an opportunity to share their powerful stories with key individuals with influence from across the country.

As Draft explains, “the Super Bowl Challenge gives us a unique opportunity to use the overwhelming media coverage surrounding the Super Bowl as a platform to raise critical public awareness about lung cancer on an international level.  With the game as a backdrop, we can use each survivor’s story to weave a broader narrative about the state of lung cancer and the hope that now exists for those battling the disease.”  And Team Draft’s efforts are paying off.

In addition to raising critical public awareness, the Super Bowl Challenge also raises funds for lung cancer organizations and treatment centers across North America.  Last year, participants who raised more than $1,000 during the Super Bowl Challenge were able to commit 50% of the funds they raised to a lung cancer organization or cancer center of their choice.

Thanks to the overwhelming success of our annual Super Bowl Challenge, Team Draft is maintaining its commit to 50% if the survivors raise over $1,000, but if survivors raise over $5,000, their designated beneficiary will receive 80% with the remaining 20% going to support Team Draft’s mission to change the face of lung cancer.

Dirk has designated his funds to be split between Lungevity and The James. The challenge is over, but the fundraising will continue until Super Bowl Sunday. https://www.crowdrise.com/2017SuperBowlChallenge

About Dirk Bosgraf

In July 2014 I was a 39 year old husband and father of two young boys living the dream. I had a great job working in the family business and my wife and I were having a blast raising our kids in the same small town I grew up in. Then the news came and my world came crashing down around me. I was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer and likely had a year, maybe two, to live. Fast forward two+ years and I’m still here with my wife having a blast raising our kids, living the dream the best way we know how while living with a terminal disease. For more info on my fight visit BattlingCancer.co.

Lung cancer takes more lives annually in the U.S. than the next four deadliest cancers combined, yet it is still vastly underfunded due in large part to it’s stigma as a self-inflicted, smoker’s disease. The fact is, anyone with lungs can get lung cancer and much more research needs to be done to improve the lives of those living with this awful disease. Donations will go to Team Draft, Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and LUNGevity. Both organizations are doing amazing things in the lung cancer space and both have been a big help to me personally in my fight!

About the NFL Pro Bowl

The 2017 Pro Bowl is the National Football League‘s all-star game for the 2016 season which will be played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida on January 29, 2017. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN. After 3 years of a “drafted” format, the NFL announced that it would return to the “conferenced” format previously used for 42 years. The rosters were announced on December 20 on a Pro Bowl selection show on NFL Network. The coaches will be Jason Garrett for the NFC team and Andy Reid for the AFC.