I ride in my memory of my sister, Tracy Brown. For those of you that have been along for this journey, Tracy passed away in June of this year after a seven year battle with cancer.

Mother of seven kids, lawyer, writer, Tracy had just turned 51 when she was diagnosed. Her prognosis was 2 1/2 years. Research and innovation more than doubled those years but in the end it was not enough to save her.

Tracy lived a full life after her diagnosis, attending marriages, graduations, parties, holidays—watching her older kids turn into young adults, watching her youngest kids turn from kindergartners to middle schoolers, embracing her large extended family with love and humor. She is a direct beneficiary of real-time cancer research: a number of the treatments she had been on to prolong her life were not approved when she was diagnosed.

Lung cancer kills more women than breast cancer, and lung cancer kills more people than any other cancer. As Tracy would say, all it takes to get lung cancer is having lungs.

Please consider supporting the countless people who suffer from cancer by donating to the PMC’s mission to fund the kind of research that let me celebrate seven extra birthdays with my sister (we were born on the same date, exactly three years apart) that I might otherwise have not had.

Cancer is a thief in our world—all of us are impacted by cancer, whether we have cancer or love someone who has cancer. I loved my sister. In memory of her and the people you know and love, please join consider donating in whatever way you can.