CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Members of the Radcliffe heavyweight and lightweight crews are raising money to fight lung cancer and preparing to “Jog for Jill” Sunday in the first Boston walk/run benefiting the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation.

The Black and White oarswomen and coxswains will run in the event in honor of Jill Costello, a coxswain for the California Golden Bears women’s crew who died from lung cancer in June. Costello was 21 years old and had never smoked. According to the BJALCF, 53 percent of lung cancer in women is not attributed to smoking.

Cal Women’s Rowing Team member Jill Costello passed away from complications due to lung cancer on June 24th 2010 and at the age of 21. A San Francisco event and run called Jog For Jill has been established and will be held this Sunday, September 12th at 5 PM.

Two members of the Cal Women’s Crew team were at the Cal vs. Davis football game wearing Jog For Jill shirts, and were kind enough to provide the video interview above.

Some stories, you just know they’re going to turn out all right.

They’re sad, their outlook is terrible, but you know they’ll get better.

There’s got to be a surprise happy ending, you think.

Because I hadn’t heard Jill Costello’s story before, I had thought I was listening to that kind of tale Saturday morning at crew practice.

Costello seemed like she had everything going for her. A coxswain for one of the top crew programs in the country, she led her California Golden Bears boat to a fourth-place finish at NCAAs three years in a row—twice in the varsity four and once in the first varsity eight.

So when I heard about the part where she got stage IV lung cancer, I figured she would have to recover, or that she must have already recovered.

It didn’t matter why they had shown up. What really mattered was that they were there.

Close to 300 people participated in the first ever “Stride for Susie,” an event held Sept. 19 that had people running, walking or striding through 5 kilometer or 10 kilometer routes from Saratoga High School to the Village in downtown Saratoga in honor of the late Saratoga City Councilwoman Susie Nagpal.

Nagpal died of lung cancer in May after a seven-month battle with the disease. She was 46.

“Susie accepted that her life was shortened by this disease,” said Jayshree Ullal, Nagpal’s sister. “In life there are givers and takers. And Susie was always a giver. And what she would have liked is that, with this event, we are giving back to the community.”

The event raised about $32,000 for the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation, which has the sole purpose of “eradicating lung cancer with our patients, survivors and their families through research, early detection, awareness, education, prevention and treatment.”

Saratoga City Councilwoman Susie Nagpal wasn’t a runner. But more than 300 of her friends and relatives showed up under pleasant skies Sunday for “Stride for Susie,” a walk and run in her memory that raised money for lung cancer research.

Nagpal was 46 when she died from the disease in May.

“I had no idea it would be this big,” said her niece, Tarini Ullal, a UC Berkeley senior who came up with the idea of a fundraising run to remember her aunt.

Nagpal, who didn’t smoke, was the first Indo-American elected to the council of this bucolic town of about 30,000. After the runners and walkers finished their 5- or 10-kilometer routes, they gathered at Saratoga’s town center to remember her.

Her sister, Jayshree Ullal, said Nagpal strived to help Saratoga grow without losing its appeal.

Scott & White Healthcare in Round Rock, Texas is recruiting patients for a Phase III lung cancer trial aimed at preventing the disease’s recurrence in previously treated patients. The trial will evaluate the potential of an immunotherapy called Antigen-Specific Cancer Immunotherapeutic (ASCI) for the treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC).

The Academy of Art women’s basketball team came together, with over hundreds of other participants, to fight lung cancer and increase ongoing survival in loving Memory of Jill Costello.

Costello was a member of the Cal Women’s Rowing Team and passed away from complications due to lung cancer on June 24th 2010, at the age of 21. The first Jog For Jill event  was held on February 8, 2010. Costello’s campus chapter of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and raised more than $37,000 for the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation.

The California softball team took time out of its busy schedule of practice and class to give back to the Cal Athletics family. On Sunday, Sept. 12, the Golden Bears joined roughly 5,000 other people in Golden Gate Park to participate in the Jog for Jill, a 5K event to raise funds for lung cancer research.

The walk/run, which the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation sponsored, honored the late Jill Costello, a former coxswain on the California women’s crew team, who passed away from lung cancer on June 24. The event raised approximately $315,000 for lung cancer research.

“Jog for Jill was a humbling experience,” junior infielder Amy Bishop said. “It showed the solidarity of Cal Athletics and made me proud to be a Bear.”

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 10, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Bonnie Addario of The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation and Dr. David Jablons, Director of the UCSF Thoracic Oncology Program are honored to announce today that Porsche will be a major collaborator in the October 16, 2011 exclusive QUAIL PORSCHE RACE CAR CLASSIC in Carmel, California at the famed Quail Lodge and Golf Club. This once-in-a-lifetime gathering of vintage Porsche race cars from 1950-1965 coming from around the globe will raise critical funding to directly support lung cancer research. With 3,500 attendees expected, it is anticipated to be a sell out event. Please see event website for more information: http://www.2011PorscheRaceCarClassic.com Porsche Company North America (PCNA) and Porsche AG will be providing support in a number of ways including: logistical and marketing support, distribution of materials, on-site vehicles and more. In addition, Porsche will bring several special cars from the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ — Bonnie Addario of The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation and Dr. David Jablons, Director of the UCSF Thoracic Oncology Program are honored to announce today that Porsche will be a major collaborator in the October 16, 2011 exclusive QUAIL PORSCHE RACE CAR CLASSIC in Carmel, California at the famed Quail Lodge and Golf Club. This once-in-a-lifetime gathering of vintage Porsche race cars from 1950-1965 coming from around the globe will raise critical funding to directly support lung cancer research. With 3,500 attendees expected, it is anticipated to be a sell out event. Please see event website for more information: http://www.2011PorscheRaceCarClassic.com

Porsche Company North America (PCNA) and Porsche AG will be providing support in a number of ways including: logistical and marketing support, distribution of materials, on-site vehicles and more.  In addition, Porsche will bring several special cars from the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.