It’s Almost Time to LUNGe Forward!

We are just a few weeks away from the Lung Cancer Initiative of NC’s LUNGe Forward 5K. There’s still time to join us for the run or from the comfort of your own home via a donation to the team: Gwen Strong. Thank you for supporting the advancement of lung cancer research!

Gwen is moving right along with her training for the 5K… She did 3.1 miles today! She put on the caveat that it was on a treadmill, so that’s not as good or something, but whatever. She ran 3.1 indoor miles!

Tonight, Gwen and I were discussing how fortunate we are to live in the Research Triangle area. She has been reading blogs of other people her age with lung cancer and is also a member of a Facebook group for ROS-1 mutation folks. One of the members of the Facebook group just passed away. He was 33 and had been diagnosed 3 years ago, but didn’t know he had ROS-1 until 2 years ago. Another site Gwen was reading contained discussion amongst people about whether or not their oncologists had done the testing for the mutations. Gwen said it was evident that some of these doctors were only familiar with the 2 main ones, so when those came back negative, no further testing was done. It really puts things into perspective and reminds us how awesome it is to be connected to doctors at Duke and specifically Dr G who leads up some lung cancer research. I have a hard time fathoming doctors not being aware that there are more than just 2 mutations out there!

Switching gears for a moment, it had been awhile since I’d seen Gwen, and they stopped by today. I was taken aback by the fullness/thickness of her hair! And I happened to make a comment about her hair that people may think is not the nicest, but Gwen and Justin both laughed because the comment I made = the comments Gwen has made about her hair, too. Of course. For those of you who don’t know the two of us, we oft say the same things. Sometimes it is creepy. So anyway, here is her hair. What comment would you make?

We asked the kids, thinking surely it must be obvious. Clearly it is not to them.

The kids said she looked like: Elvis, she has mountains on the back, ocean waves in the back, a boy, etc.

No kids, she has a hair helmet, duh.

Justin tells me that recently conversations at their place have gone something like this:

Gwen: “Callie, go get your helmet on so we can go for a bike ride. I already have mine on!”

Or

Justin: “It’s kinda chilly out. Do you think I need my hat on for my run this morning?”

Gwen: “Well, I’ve got mine on…”

It’s just so much thicker than it was before! I tried, without success, to get her to go for a bowl cut – I mean, what better way to show off the thickness?