Atlanta, GA. Our 6th annual Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge kicked off on November 1, 2019. This unique fund raising challenge gives lung cancer survivors the opportunity to raise funds for public awareness and cutting-edge research that is giving new hope to those battling this often misunderstood disease. The top three fundraisering Teams, were announced on December 30, 2019, earned trips to the Super Bowl, Pro Bowl and the Taste of the NFL.

Angela Downs will represent Team Draft at Super Bowl 54 and the 29th Taste of the NFL.

I’m thrilled to have won the Super Bowl Challenge and, in the process, raised money for lung cancer research. Most importantly, I’m very excited to attend the big game as a representative of all those battling lung cancer so we can increase awareness of this horrible disease. ~ Angela Downs

Lisa Moran will represent Team Draft at the NFL Pro Bowl in Orlando, Florida.

Fundraising was tough this year. Getting to donate ?10,000 to fund lung cancer research is the win. Going to Orlando to see Nick Chubb in his first Pro Bowl is an exciting bonus. I can’t wait for the Pro Bowl experience! ~ Lisa Moran

“Team Hope” will represent at the 29th Taste of the NFL in Hollywood, Florida.

The survivors earned the opportunity to share their powerful stories with key individuals with influence from across the country.

The lung cancer survivors that raise over $5,000 will be able to designate a beneficiary (Cancer Center or LC Organization) that will receive 90% of their raised funds (-fees) and the remaining 10% will support Team Draft’s mission to change the face of 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.

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.

“The Super Bowl Challenge achieves amazing things in terms of public awareness and changing perceptions about lung cancer,” says Dr. Ross Camidge, the Director of Thoracic Oncology at Colorado University Cancer Center, the cancer center where two of last year’s Super Bowl Challenge winners were treated.

In addition to raising critical public awareness, the Super Bowl Challenge also raises funds for lung cancer organizations and treatment centers across North America.

Of this aspect of the Super Bowl Challenge, Dr. Camidge says, “you need somebody working on the national level. You need somebody working on the local level. Everybody wins.”

For the survivors who participate, the Super Bowl Challenge is so much more than just a fundraiser.

“Team Draft has really helped boost our family’s spirits during this challenging time,” says Dr. Lucy Kalanithi. In 2015, Lucy and her husband, Dr. Paul Kalanithi, won Team Draft’s inaugural Super Bowl Challenge and were able to join Team Draft in Phoenix, Arizona for Super Bowl 49.  Paul went on to write the bestselling memoir When Breath Becomes Air — a powerful and moving chronicle of his life and lung cancer journey — before passing away at the age of 37.

2016 Super Bowl Challenge winner, Kim Ringen says, “As a lung cancer survivor, I would highly recommend to anybody to put your hat in the ring because it is so uplifting to be associated with a group of people that are coming together to make a difference.”

To learn more about Team Draft’s 2020 Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge, visit: https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/2020-lung-cancer-survivors-super-bowl-challenge

Special thanks to NFL, Astra Zeneca, and all of our Team Draft supporters for helping make this experience possible.

About Team Draft

Team Draft, an initiative of the Chris Draft Family Foundation, is dedicated to raising lung cancer awareness and increasing research funding by shattering the misconception that lung cancer is a “smoker’s disease.”  Despite the fact that between 20,000 and 30,000 people who have never smoked are diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States each year, the smoking stigma negatively impacts lung cancer research funding, Team Draft is out to change all that. To learn more about Team Draft, share your story, or make a donation, please visit www.teamdraft.org.