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

The money raised in 2008′s Stand Up To Cancer campaign has already been put to work creating a dream team of doctors developing cutting-edge research in the fight against cancer. Dr. Jon LaPook reports on a revolutionary approach to fighting cancer called “Epigenetic Therapies.”

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

Rigging boats at Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif., captain Mary Jeghers and the Cal women’s crew team were warming up for an 8,000-meter practice run in preparation for the 2010 NCAA women’s rowing championships.

Jill Costello was a little late to practice. The senior coxswain, who had been diagnosed with Level IV lung cancer in June 2009, was arriving in Gold River after having CT scans read earlier that morning.

“We all knew that Jill had an important doctor’s visit that day and that she was going to come up late,” says Jeghers. “Before Jill got there, (coach Dave O’Neill) told us it wasn’t good news, and that we should make it great for her.”

Costello arrived at the lake and immediately began preparing for practice.

“I said, ‘Jill, are you OK? Will you be able to handle this?’” O’Neill says. “And she told me ‘Yep, no problem.’”

After over 20 rounds of chemotherapy and, according to O’Neill, four different types of drug treatments, Costello was told that it was not time to think about curing the cancer, but “how to make her comfortable.”

“Now I can stand on my own. I’m actually doing great,” Zheng Cao is saying, seated comfortably in her high-rise apartment looking out over the water and the soaring Bay Bridge.

Cao, a Shanghai-born mezzo-soprano, beams as she recounts the story of the past year and how she has defied not only the odds of surviving stage four lung cancer, but the dire prognosis that she had only six months to live.

After persistent back pain, which she at first attributed to a fall she’d taken during her performance in the world premiere of “The Bonesetter’s Daughter” at the San Francisco Opera, she was found to be riddled with cancer – dozens of tumors blossoming in her liver, neck, spine, lungs, brain, bones and lymph nodes.

On Sunday, Sept. 12, the second Jog For Jill 5K event, sponsored by the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF), will take place at Golden Gate Park at 4 p.m. The event is in honor of the late Jill Costello, a former coxswain on the California women’s crew who passed away from lung cancer on June 24. Cal student-athletes, staff, friends and family are encouraged to join “Team Jill.” Nearly all 27 Golden Bear teams will have representation at the event.

After being diagnosed with the disease on June 6, 2009, Costello remained an active member on the rowing team through the 2010 season, coxing the varsity 8+ to a Pac-10 Championship and a helping the Golden Bears finish second overall at the NCAA Championships. The 2010 Pac-10 Athlete of the Year, Costello graduated last May with a degree in political economy and was named to the Pac-10 All-Academic second team. She accomplished all of this while undergoing 22 chemotherapy sessions and 14 days of radiation treatments.