LUNG FORCE Walk New York 2015 - A Turquoise Takeover of South Street Seaport

The tents were up bright and early on the morning of May 16, 2015, despite the dark clouds looming over the seaport and a temporary downpour that left puddles of water around the LUNG FORCE Walk vendor booths. But as walkers started to arrive, the clouds began to part.

More than a thousand lung cancer survivors, families and friends of its victims were out to support—a true LUNG FORCE—to walk through Lower Manhattan and across the Brooklyn Bridge in honor of Women’s Lung Health Week, a call to raise awareness about lung cancer and its deadliness among women. As many of the incredible women I spoke with emphasized, lung cancer is the number one cancer killer of women, yet many women do not even consider it a threat as great as breast or ovarian cancer.

"It is a silent killer and we need to work on prevention, education and allowing people to catch it early until we can find a cure," said LUNG FORCE Hero Megan Green, who lost her mother to lung cancer last September.

I had the privilege of speaking with several other LUNG FORCE Heroes, walkers and their families, whose voices are the rallying cry for greater awareness and attention to the issue of lung cancer in women. Hear their stories in the video below.