Day at the Races to help fund lung cancer research

DEL MAR — Promising fun in the sun for a great cause, the Lung Cancer Foundation of America will hold the fourth annual Day at the Races fundraiser from noon to 6:30 p.m. July 28 at the Del Mar Race Track. 

Cost for the event is $150 and includes access to the Del Mar Turf Club, unlimited food and drinks while watching the races from the private patio of Il Palio Restaurant, a private betting window, tours of the paddock, betting instructions, a silent auction and free admission to Camp Del Mar for children 5 to 12 years old.

A raffle will also be held that will allow the winner into the Winner’s Circle following the Breath of Life Race.

Day at the Races was started by Paula Friendly who, while living in Rancho Santa Fe about seven years ago, went to the emergency room of a nearby hospital because she was having trouble breathing.

She said she wasn’t surprised to hear the chest X-ray revealed she had pneumonia, but she was shocked it also detected a mass in her right lung that was later confirmed to be cancer.

At first she thought the doctors were wrong because she ate right and exercised. Although she had smoked socially, she quit more than 30 years earlier.

The disease has the stigma of being associated with tobacco use, a lifestyle choice, however, it is estimated that 60 percent of new lung cancer diagnoses will be on nonsmokers, Friendly said.

It is no longer considered the “Marlboro Man’s” disease as it can affect young and old, smokers and nonsmokers, and people of all ethnicities and backgrounds.

“Anybody who has lungs has to get in there and fund research,” Friendly said.

Kim Norris, a lung cancer widow and co-founder of the Lung Cancer Foundation of America, will discuss some of the latest developments in lung cancer research that she learned during a recent visit with researchers in Maryland.

Visit http://www.lcfamerica.org/lcfa-day-at-the-races.html for tickets and more information.