Draft

When Chris Draft established the Chris Draft Family Foundationin 2006, inspired by some close friends who had cancer, he never imagined that the disease would claim his wife, Keasha, five years later at age 38-less than a month after their wedding. And especially not Stage IV Lung Cancer. "Most people associate lung cancer with smoking, but Keasha... was never a smoker. In fact, we always stayed as far away as possible from any type of smoke because of my asthma," says Chris, a former NFL linebacker and Stanford University graduate. "Through the Foundation, and the Team Draft initiative, I want to change the face of lung cancer. I want to take away the stigma and show people the advancements that have been made in curing lung cancer - and give people hope." Launched by Chris and Keasha on their wedding day in 2011, the Team Draft initiative is dedicated to raising lung cancer awareness and increasing desperately needed research funding for the disease. Because of its stigma as the 'smoker's disease', funding for lung cancer research pales in comparison to that for other major cancers. According to the most recent statistics, nearly 50 to 60 percent of lung cancers occur in people who have never smoked or are former smokers. Two-thirds of the non-smokers diagnosed with lung cancer are women, and lung cancer has been the number-one cancer killer of women since 1987! "If we can take away the stigma that says you have to be a smoker to get lung cancer, we have a real chance to educate people about the true nature of the disease," Chris says. "The reality was that Keasha was in shape, she was strong, she went to the doctor right away. A lot of people diagnosed with lung cancer are just like Keasha," a fact underscored by last week's death from lung cancer of disco legend Donna Summer, who was also a non-smoker. In the five months since Keasha's death, Team Draft has been leading a national campaign to change the face of lung cancer, which is focused on educating people not only about the disease itself, but also ...Read More