Gaeta Foundation Donates $15,000 to ALCMI

Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation Donates $15,000 to Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI) for Lung Cancer Research

ALCMI’s founding organization, BJALCF, has been conducting an ongoing “One in a Million” advertising campaign to raise $20 from one million people in the belief that small donations add up. Generously donated by CBS Outdoor and friends of the Foundation to raise awareness for Lung Cancer, the ads currently appear on buses and billboards in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Atlanta.

“When it comes to raising money for an inexcusably underfunded disease like Lung Cancer, the money is going to come from people who care like the Gaetas,” said Bonnie J. Addario. “I consider this donation a collective voice of 750 people. To me, the Gaeta Foundation and their donors are a part of our One-In-A-Million movement. Together, we are now one step closer to increasing survival of this horrible disease.”

“As someone who has been involved with my own Lung Cancer non-profit for just over a year, I am all too aware of the challenges we face in capturing hearts and minds with our common cause,” said Joe Gaeta. “The BJALCF One In A Million ad campaign on city buses and billboards remains the only high-profile visibility Lung Cancer gets.”

On the eve of Bonnie J. Addario’s five-year anniversary of surviving Lung Cancer, the Gaeta Foundation announced their first donation explicitly geared toward Lung Cancer treatment research. The foundation is donating $15,000 to the newly-created Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI). “Our mission statement includes advocating for research,” said foundation president Joe Gaeta, who established the Gaeta Foundation after his mother Joan died of Lung Cancer. “We believe that ALCMI and its collaboration model will advance the research and treatment of Lung Cancer and finally begin to increase the survival rate of this horrible disease – a 15.5% survival rate that has remained virtually unchanged for nearly 40 years. We are extremely confident that ALCMI is the single-best use of our research funds for Lung Cancer.” The donation resulted from the Foundation’s second annual “Dancing for Joan” Dinner Gala, held in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 21, 2009, and emceed by CNN’s Nancy Grace.

“I didn’t know Joan personally,” said Addario, “But I now know her entire family and I do know how she felt when she was diagnosed…when she heard those three words. I don’t think there are any words more frightening in any language than ‘You have cancer!’ I know that she was worried more about how her family was going to move on without her rather than think about herself. I know how sad it made her feel to think that she wouldn’t see her grandchildren accomplish all she had hoped for them. I know it made her sad to see the worry on her childrens’ faces and how she wanted to take that away. I know she appreciated every day she was able to see the sun rise and fall. Most importantly, I know that if she were here right now she would be immensely proud of what her children and husband are doing today…as proud as I am of all of them and my own family.”

“Mom always believed in DOING THE RIGHT THING. This didn’t just apply to large acts of charity; but, in the little things that fill in the everyday moments we call LIFE. We used to tease Mom about her strict adherence to RULES. She never broke the rules or took short-cuts to anything. It was a running family joke. Mom never compromised her ethics or principles, regardless of the circumstance. This would sometimes annoy us, or cramp our style. But it was always “the right thing to do”, and we kids are all better people for it. We all decided that giving to ALCMI is the right thing to do.” said Joe Gaeta.

“We are eternally grateful to the Gaeta foundation for their extremely generous donation and, more importantly, for their historic endorsement and partnership with ALCMI,” said ALCMI founder, Bonnie Addario. “Thanks to donations like this, we move one step closer to increasing the survival rate of lung cancer. We are so very happy to have the Gaetas join us in our common fight.”

March 17, 2009 marks five years since Bonnie J. Addario began her recovery from Stage IIIB Lung Cancer. After a 14-hour operation and a miracle or two, some serendipity, years of many residual complications, Bonnie joins the ranks of the few accidental five-year Lung Cancer survivors. In Atlanta, on July 17, 2007, Joan Maria Gaeta, 69, a devoted wife, teacher, and mother of five lost her three-year battle to Lung Cancer. Bonnie and Joan never had a chance to meet in person, but the Gaeta Family has been seeing to it that Joan’s dream of increasing the survival rate of Lung Cancer for others will continue to dance forward, hand in hand with the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF) and through the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI). Joan was most passionate about eliminating the stigma of the disease, since Lung Cancer also strikes NEVER-smokers at a high rate. During her battle, she never once asked ‘Why Me?’—instead she stressed the need for greater awareness for Lung Cancer and was saddened by the tragic lack of research funding.