When you meet Terri Ann DiJulio, words like vivacious and fit come to mind. You wouldn’t know the words two-time lung cancer and stroke survivor also fit. We recently connected to talk about her advocacy and plans to raise $60,000 for GO2 for Lung Cancer this year.

Q: What motivates you?

A: This is my story: Two-time lung cancer survivor, member of a multi-generational lung cancer family: 5 of us diagnosed and I am one of two who survived. In addition to that, 4.5 years ago, I lost my brother to a sudden heart attack (he was only 56 years old and very fit) and I had a major stroke 2 years ago.

I was asked recently what it means to me to be a “survivor”. For me, with survivorship comes a deep sense of responsibility. Not only do I believe aging is a privilege, with that privilege comes responsibility to do something with this gift of my beautiful life.

Q: Why did you choose such a large goal?

A: After all I’ve experienced, it has been in the back of my mind for a while that if I made it to my 60th birthday, I wanted to do something big. By doing my part to educate my lawmakers and the public about this indiscriminate disease and raise funds to help other patients, I can make a difference and the loss of my loved ones will not be in vain.

Q: Has the COVID-19 crisis impacted your fundraising?

A: Because of social distancing, I am using social media posts, online fundraising retail shows, and email blasts to help people understand that although this is a tough time to fundraise, patients with lung cancer are at an especially high risk if COVID-19 enters their system. In 12 short weeks, we have been able to raise over $23,000 and we’re currently at 39% of the goal. Because this is a yearlong campaign, I hope that once the stay at home order is lifted, we can resume planning for some of our in person fundraising events.

Q: What advice would you give to someone who is afraid to fundraise?

A: Although asking for funds can be intimidating, I have found that people really do want to help, all you have to do is ask. Tell your story and be sure to include why lung cancer advocacy is personally important to you, and why it should be important to them: “anyone with lungs can get lung cancer”. People want to help, I promise!   Please don’t let the number I chose be intimidating.  I didn’t start out with big goals. ALL fundraising is important, whether your goal is $200 or $2,000, our lung cancer community needs every dollar. It all adds up and it ALL helps!

Join Terri Ann at this year’s Virtual Summit to learn how to share your story to impact change with your elected officials.  You can also use your birthday to help raise awareness and fundraise. Click here to set up your Milestones page!