When Terri (Mclaughlin) Stanik was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2012, it came as a surprise.
“We were extremely shocked because she never smoked,” Stanik’s older sister, Kathy (Mclaughlin) Christensen said. “She was extremely healthy, and there were no signs except for a few months before.”
As the two-year anniversary of Stanik’s death approaches in October, Christensen, other family members and friends hope to keep Stanik’s memory alive, while raising awareness and funding for the disease that took her life.
Stanik’s friends and family will take part in the Puget Sound Free to Breathe 5-kilometer run/walk on Saturday, Sept. 17, at Tacoma’s Wright Park.
“There is a stigma that only people who smoke get (lung) cancer,” Christensen said. “That’s just not true. Anyone who has lungs can get cancer.”
Stanik and Christensen grew up in Kent and graduated from Kentridge High School, Christensen in 1981 and Stanik in 1988. Christensen still lives in the Kent area and works as the kitchen manager at Northwood Middle School in the Kent School District.
Although Stanik lived in Snohomish with her husband, Joe, and son, Joey – now 10 – Christensen said the two were very close and spent a lot of time together after Stanik’s diagnoses.
“We did as much as we possibly could as a family knowing it wasn’t going to be a lifetime anymore,” Christensen said.
The sisters’ families went on camping trips and spent holidays and birthdays together.
“The last few weeks of her life, I took a leave of absence to be with her as much as possible,” Christensen said.
Stanik’s death has been hard on her family and is part of the reason they are raising money for lung cancer research, Christensen said.
“We have to find ways to extend people’s lives so another family doesn’t need to go through this,” she said.
Participating in the 5K with Christensen are Stanik’s husband and son; Christensen’s husband, Loren Christensen; Christensen’s children, Danielle Kerzman, Jordan Kerzman and Samantha Christensen; Kim Mclaughlin, Christensen’s and Stanik’s sister; and some of Stanik’s friends.
The group hopes to raise $1,000 for Free to Breathe.
Since 2005, Free to Breathe, a lung cancer research and advocacy organization dedicated to doubling lung cancer survival by 2022, has raised more than $14 million. This year, the organization will fund two new lung cancer research grants totaling more than $1.2 million dollars.
Last year, the Tacoma Free to Breathe event raised more than $70,000. In Washington state, an estimated 4,670 residents will be diagnosed with lung cancer in 2016.
For more information, visit freetobreathe.org.
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