Awareness • Early Detection • Treatment • Research • Survivorship

A Survivor at Every Stadium: Jacksonville Jaguars

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Jacksonville, Fl. Lung cancer survivor Samantha Mixon represented Team Draft at EverBank Field today. She watched the Jaguars take on the visiting Houston Texans.

Samantha Mixon’s Blog:

As everyone knows, today is the last day of November. It’s also the last day of lung cancer awareness month. It was such a crazy month and I live so far away, it’s hard to do too much for it….especially with Karley. I noticed some great strides, but also noticed the continuous lack of national media coverage. In fact, I can barely watch the national media because of all of the madness and hate right now. It’s tough, because some of us just want to live. I don’t want to debate. I just want to live a happy life, spend time with my family and friends. The national media is focused so much on some very important issues, but they also have the power to spin things and have the power to help things from getting out of control. I don’t understand all of the hate. It makes me sad for all of us and scares me for the future.

I feel like it’s dividing people when we should be coming together. In the words of the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that”. “I have decided to stick to love…hate is to great a burden to bear.” It’s 2014 people. Let’s come together to solve issues that don’t belong in 1952. Hey…maybe a cure for cancer and other diseases. Something always makes the media over this disease that KILLS 3,000 Americans each WEEK. I’m not trying to be insensitive. This was a no win situation for all parties and my prayers go out to all of the families involved. Everyone has their opinions…..It’s time to love and forgive as God forgives us every day. “Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Read more about Samantha: http://samlmixon.blogspot.com/

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month. In 2012, Team Draft marked the occasion by launching our inaugural Survivor at Every Stadium initiative on CNN during a nationally-televised prime time special focusing on lung cancer and our National Campaign to Change the Face of Lung Cancer.

Leveraging our connections with the NFL, its teams and players and our relationships with many of the top cancer centers in the country, we arranged to have lung cancer survivors attend games at NFL stadiums across the country during the last two months of the 2012-2013 season. By the time the initiative concluded at the ProBowl in Hawaii, more than 30 lung cancer survivors representing 30 cancer centers and nearly every NFL team had participated. Given the overwhelming success of our Survivor at EveryStadium initiative, we have expanded it beyond the NFL to the NBA, the NHL and MLS—and this year, London, UK! As part of our National Campaign, this celebration of survivorship raises lung cancer awareness, gives hope to those battling the disease, and shines a light on the important work being done at cancer research and treatment centers around the country.

Team Draft’s goals are to create a unique experience for participating survivors and to raise awareness on a local, national, and international level by using each game and each survivor’s story to weave a broader narrative about the state of cancer and the hope that now exists for those battling the disease.

Special thanks to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Piedmont Healthcare and our Team Draft’s supporters for helping make this experience possible.

now to Support the National Campaign to Change the Face of Lung Cancer! www.teamdraft.org