One inspiring cancer patient not only fights a tough battle against his own Stage 4 lung cancer, he also fights for others with the debilitating disease through his philanthropic efforts — always pushing the envelope to raise funds for research and increase awareness about the deadliest of cancers. La Jolla resident Mike Stevens has undergone a dozen rounds of chemotherapy for six long years. Even now, as he battles new tumors that have formed in his lungs through another bout of chemotherapy, Stevens continues to fight for a cause that is near and dear to his heart — one that may one day help eradicate the cancer he deals with on a daily basis. When asked what keeps him motivated to continue the fight, Stevens said, “Is there really a choice? If you want to live, you have to do what you have to do. I have two children in college. I don’t want to leave them without a father.” Despite having more on his plate than most, Stevens channeled his energy into philanthropy, founding the San Diego Breath of Hope Lung Cancer Walk. The 5K walk, now in its fourth year, brings together more than 1,000 lung cancer survivors, patients, families and friends in association with the Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA). “It is important to participate to have our voices heard. There are very few survivors, so those of us that are still here need to be loud and vocal,” he said. “The San Diego Breath of Hope Lung Cancer Walk is an opportunity to celebrate life, meet other survivors and families, and show San Diego that lung cancer really does matter.” Sadly, the survival rate for lung cancer has remained virtually unchanged for 30 years, he said. “It is very low — 15 percent overall for the disease and 5 percent for those with Stage 4 like myself,” he said. “Basically, there are very few survivors to make noise and fight for increasing funding levels and the survival rate. I felt I had an obligation to fight for what I believed in.” This year’s walk will honor San Diegan Maria Diaz Enriquez, who lost her battle with the disease on Thanksgiving Day. Enriquez — who also advocated for the annual lung cancer walk — fought lung cancer for nine years. “Without her energy, the walk would never have happened,” Stevens said. “She convinced myself, another survivor and our families to participate in the walk in the LA area. She was so touched that she convinced me that we needed to do one of these walks in San Diego. She had been battling the disease and doing advocacy for Lung Cancer Alliance longer than I had.” This year’s walk will pay tribute to the fight for both her own life and her fight on behalf of others as she sought to bring awareness to the often-considered “invisible” and misunderstood type of cancer. “How can I leave this battle for others when the ‘others’ aren’t there? They have lost their battle,” Stevens said. “We will never have a walk with 10,000 participants because we just don’t have enough people surviving this awful disease.” This year’s Breath of Hope Lung Cancer Walk will take place on April 22 at Cancer Survivor’s Park, located at 4100 North Harbor Drive. The expo will begin at 7:30 a.m. and the walk starts at 9 a.m. Registration is available online at www.sandiegobreathofhope.org or on site. Tickets are $35 per adult and $20 for children 12 and under. LUNG CANCER STATISTICS • Lung cancer is the deadliest of all cancers in men and women, killing nearly 157,000 people last year. • Lung cancer kills nearly twice as many women each year as breast cancer and three times as many men as prostate cancer. In San Diego County alone, there will be approximately 1,400 new cases of lung cancer this year. • Lung cancer is commonly misperceived as a “smokers’ disease,” but nearly 20 percent of all diagnosed cases occur in people who have never smoked, and 60 percent of all diagnosed cases are in people who have quit smoking. • Lung cancer receives the lowest amount of research dollars compared to any other major cancer. Federal spending for lung cancer research in 2011 was only $214 million compared to $1.1 billion for breast cancer research. (Spending sources include the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Department of Defense.) Information provided by the Lung Cancer Alliance. For more information, visit www.lungcanceralliance.org. MAKING A DIFFERENCE In addition to advocating for lung cancer research through LCA, Stevens also supports state and federal bills that carve out more funding for lung cancer research. “I am not an advocate for new taxes, but lung cancer research does need a revenue source,” he said of bills has supported in the past, including the failed Proposition 29, which proposed an increase to the tobacco tax by $1 per pack. On the federal level, Stevens is actively participating in talks with government representatives to support the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act, which was presented in both houses of congress. The bill calls on government agencies to get together and come up with funding for lung cancer research. Although both California state senators have sign onto the bill, many other representatives have not, he said. “I have talked with congressmen and senators who have lost family members to lung cancer, and they have not signed on because it affects other agendas more important to them,” he said. “One of them is my own congressman who I have met with numerous times and has not signed on despite the fact he lost his father to the disease. Politicians really look at the numbers. If he was flooded with emails and phone calls asking him to support the LCMRA, then he would probably sign on.”