The Cal – Stanford Big Game is next week, and promises to be another memorable college football contest. As usual, there will be a number of parties, but there’s one event that you really must come to: a benefit for Jill’s Legacy.
Jill’s Legacy is a non-profit organization based around Cal Crew Team Member Jill Costello, who lost her battle with lung cancer at the age of 22. The website describes the organization in this way:
Jill’s Legacy is an Advisory Board to the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation made up of promising young professionals who have each been personally touched by Lung Cancer. The Board has been called Jill’s Legacy in memory of 22-year-old college student and athlete at U.C. Berkeley, Jillian Costello, who lost her battle with Lung Cancer in June of 2010, just one year after being diagnosed.
With its oldest member just 24, this Board of empowered young adults is largely made up of Jill’s closest friends and loved ones. The group’s mission is simple: to be the driving force in significantly increasing the stagnant 15.5% survival rate of the world’s number one cancer killer- Lung Cancer.
Many people don’t know that Lung Cancer is the biggest cancer killer but still the least funded. It kills more people than breast, colon, liver, melanoma and kidney cancers combined. And, for every $9 spent on Breast Cancer research, $1 is spent on Lung Cancer in the U.S. Much of this is due to the stigma associated with Lung Cancer that it is a smokers disease. This is not the case! In fact, 60% of newly diagnosed Lung Cancer patients either never smoked or quit smoking decades ago.
Jill’s Legacy is out to BEAT Lung Cancer big time! All money raised through the groups fundraising campaigns is going directly to young researchers and Lung Cancer awareness movements.
I first became aware of Jill Costello and Jill’s Legacy via a table setup at a Cal game last year. There were women wearing “Jog For Jill” t-shirts later at the game, so I asked if they will tell my viewers about Jill. This is what they said:
This year, the party benefiting Jill’s Legacy will be held Friday night November 18th at The Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell Street (At Van Ness) in San Francisco, CA, from 8:30 PM to 2 AM. It features DJ Allan Flo and costs just $10 to attend.
Get tickets for the party here: http://biggamepreparty.eventbrite.com/