On October 1st, 2007 my family and I lost a dear friend to lung cancer.  Lt. Colonel Julia Miles, a nurse and a person devoted to helping others, lost her battle with the #1 cancer killer of both men and women in the United States.

Julia was only 43 years old, a non-smoker, an avid runner and one of the family health nuts.  In the spring of 2006 Julia knew something was wrong when she was struggling to make it through her daily 5 mile run.  After several misdiagnoses (after all, how could someone with her lifestyle have cancer?) she insisted on a lung biopsy and found out she had stage 4 lung cancer.

Our goal in holding a Free to Breathe race in Kansas City is not only to honor our dearly loved Julia, but to raise awareness and research dollars to help fight this horrible disease, which kills over 160,000 in the United States every year.   It is our hope that through races like ours and the work of the National Lung Cancer Partnership, other families will not have to go through the pain that we are going through, and Julia's death will not be in vain

If you are interested in running in the Kansas City Free to Breathe 5K (the only such 2008 event in any state bordering Missouri) you can go to  http://freetobreathe.com/kansas08   If you wish to donate -- whether or not you are a runner -- the easiest way is through this web site.  If you want more information about other ways you can help you can email me at JuliasArmy@gmail.com.