Hello! Thank You for Visiting My Fundraising Page!

All of us have been touched in some way by cancer. In the past 9 years I personally have lost two immediate family members to Lung Cancer and Lung Cancer/COPD. My sister (Catherine) and father (Si) both lost their battles in the second frame after initially beating cancer the 1st time around.

I am, once again, trying to raise money for the American Lung Association by participating the Climb For Clean Air Program. CFCA is an ad hoc fundraising element of the A.L.A. that gets novice climbers to summit several Cascade Mountains. This year I am participating in 3 of these Climbs (Gulp!!); Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helen's and Mt. Shuksan. I am also volunteering to do the food and offer climber assistance on the Mt. Hood Climb and attempting a solo run on Mt. Adams. It's going to be a busy summer.

Here are some of the reasons why I'm doing this:

My sister Catherine's passing was much harder to experience because she had just turned 52 years old upon diagnosis. She lived in Silver Spring MD and planned retirement programs for large groups. (Catherine would often come to the city where I was cooking and find clients there to have an excuse to visit. When I was in SF she designed B.A.R.T.'s plan and when I came to Portland she had that same role for all Multnomah County workers). Catherine was already a Breast Cancer Survivor, an avid reader, wicked card player, cook, progressive, problem solver, philanthropist, sports fan and, most importantly a Mother, a Wife, a Sister and a Daughter.

Her second diagnosis took up a lot of time that she didn't have. After a clean PETSCAN in September (2018) she began to experience shoulder discomfort and hip pain (which she thought was a pulled groin mussel or a hip flexor). As things progressed, so did her pain. She saw a PT who gave her one of those foam rolly things and told her to stretch and get more exercise. When that didn't work PT sent her to a rheumatologist who ordered an MRI revealing what he thought to be Bone Cancer in her shoulder and sent her to her Oncologist. Metastatic Lung Cancer was the final diagnosis. There was a hip replacement and radiation on her shoulder but that was about it. She never got healthy enough again to have Chemotherapy. We lost her just 7 months after that CLEAN PETSCAN in April of 2019.

Silas Oscar Nunn, III had a much longer run. He was from rural North Carolina, had a quick and legendary wit, loved Golf, his kids and grandkids, his wife Donna and was undefeated at Trivial Pursuit. He attended the US Naval Academy and graduated in the Class of 1959. He specialized in surface warfare and was stationed in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf (among others). His last post was at the Pentagon which brought our family to the DC area and that's where we stayed. After the Navy, Si worked for Textron, Raytheon and later became the President of the Shipbuilder's Council of America, which lobbied (unsuccessfully) to save America's large shipyards. He was first diagnosed in 2008 and had a big operation(s), chemo, radiation and the works. He overcame brilliantly and made it to full remission. A few years later, again in between PETSCANs, his lung Cancer came back along with a heavy dose of COPD. We lost Si in July of 2014.

If you made it this far, you probably have your own story to insert and really just need to change the names, places and dates. We could really use your help.

Please support by donating to our Climb For Clean Air project! THANK YOU!! Johnny Nunn