Burbank, CA (August 18, 2015) – Start up legend Tim Draper will donate one million dollars to charity if as many viewers watch ABC Family’s unscripted series “Startup U” on Tuesday, September 1 at 10:01PM ET/PT on ABC Family.
 
On Saturday, Tim Draper announced via Twitter and Facebook that he will donate one million dollars to charity if one million viewers tune-in to Tuesday’s all-new episode. Not only does Draper have a long history of donating to worthy causes close to his heart, but he is a champion of entrepreneurism; his life’s mission is to create a better future for everyone. “I believe in the series and the great work these kids are doing. What better way to support them than connecting it back to a worthy cause? This is a win/win situation for everyone, but especially the charities.”
 
Charities that will benefit from Draper’s benevolence are ones very close to his heart, including the Parkinson’s Institute (in honor of his mother, who fights this disease), Bizworld, Tourettes Association of America (his brother-in-law and nephews are affected), Smith College Women’s business plan competition, Endeavor (supports third world entrepreneurship), Defy (works with former prisoners when they have paid their debt to society, Cal Arts and California State Summer School for the Arts, and the Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (amember of his staff is a survivor).
 
Viewership will be measured by all methods, including mobile and online viewing, L+3 and L+7.
 
In Tuesday’s episode, titled “Bro’s & Bras,” it’s Evangelism Week, which teaches the students how to become experts at selling their brand. Tim putseveryone in yet another challenging situation when he sends them to San Francisco to sell men and women’s underwear to the many shoppers in Union Square. There’s a catch, though: they have to sell the undergarments based on only a picture, with no actual product. Frustrated by the process, Tony makes a decision that irritates Sequoia and his classmates. Sharon meets with resistance when she pitches Hotpoint to various venues around the Bay Area, only to have things get tougher when Tim puts her in the hot seat. Meanwhile, Michael Volpatt (Partner, Larkin/Volpatt Communications) and Charlie meet with several students to evaluate their brands.
 
“Startup U” is produced by Ugly Brother Studios, a Sky Vision partner. Mike Duffy, Tim Duffy, Tim Draper, Perry Dance and Ted Iredell serve as executive producers.
 
Part of the Disney|ABC Television Group, ABC Family is distributed in 94 millionhomes. ABC Family entertains and connects to audiences with bold, relatableprogramming that celebrates the epic adventure of becoming an adult, from first kiss to first kid. ABC Family's programming is a combination of network-defining original series and original movies, quality acquired series and blockbuster theatricals. “WATCH ABC Family” is an authenticated service which allows viewers with participating TV subscription services access to 24/7 live viewing of the network, as well as continued on-demand access to such popular series at home and on-the-go via a wide array of devices. ABC Family is also the destination for annual holiday events with "13 Nights of Halloween" and "25 Days of Christmas."
 
ABC Family Media Relations: Joelle Johnson, (818) 569-7746, [email protected]
 
For additional press materials, please visit http://www.disneyabcpress.com/abcfamily/
 
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Twitter: twitter.com/StartUpUTV

By Aimee Swartz
(This article was originally published in the September 2015 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.)

In 2012, Sandy Jauregui-Baza was hiking along the Tamul waterfall in San
Luis Potosí, Mexico, when she started coughing and having trouble breathing. 
"I remember thinking I must be coming down with something," she recalls. 

Jauregui-Baza was an avid exerciser; she ran or hiked daily, logging more than 100 miles each month. She ate clean, avoiding almost all processed foods. She figured she was too healthy for anything to be seriously wrong. But after developing flu-like symptoms, she went to an urgent care clinic in Los Angeles. The doctor thought it might be tuberculosis, based on the results of her cloudy chest X-ray and her recent honeymoon in Nepal, where the infectious disease is common. But a few days later, when the definitive test for TB came back negative, doctors did a lung biopsy to look for other causes. 

The final diagnosis: Jauregui-Baza had stage IV lung cancer, the most advanced form of the disease; it had spread into the bones of her spinal column. "I thought the doctors had to be kidding," says Jauregui-Baza, now 32. "I've never even smoked, and I had just hiked to the base camp of Mount Everest. How could I have lung cancer?" The prognosis was grim: More than 95 percent of stage IV lung cancer patients succumb to the disease within five years of diagnosis. Jauregui-Baza was given just six months to live. 

Until about a decade ago, most doctors considered it nearly impossible for young nonsmokers to develop lung cancer. "It would have been assumed that a tumor found on the lung had spread from cancer elsewhere in the body," says David Carbone, MD, PhD, director of the James Thoracic Center at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Today doctors know that isn't always the case: About one in five of the estimated 105,590 American women who will be diagnosed with the disease this year are what doctors call "never-smokers"—those who have literally never lit up or who have smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime. A 2012 French study revealed that from 2000 to 2010, rates of lung cancer among never-smokers shot up an alarming 33 percent. In fact, if lung cancer in nonsmokers was its own category, it would rank among the ten deadliest cancers in the United States. This is in part because the symptoms—coughing, chest pain, shortness of breath—are so similar to those of common illnesses; as a result, the disease is often ignored by patients and overlooked by physicians. 

That's what happened to Natalie DiMarco, a nonsmoker who was diagnosed at age 32. During a personal-training session one day, she was so winded, "it stopped me in my tracks," she says. "It didn't seem like I was just tired from exercise." She made an appointment to see her primary care physician, who thought allergies were to blame. When she developed a nagging cough, she sought another opinion and was diagnosed with pneumonia. By the time her cancer was discovered through a biopsy six months later, DiMarco could no longer climb a flight of stairs without stopping to catch her breath. Like Jauregui-Baza, she had stage IV lung cancer. 

If cigarettes aren't to blame, what is? Certainly, secondhand smoke plays a role, as do other environmental factors: According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a leading cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers is exposure to radon, a radioactive gas, and in 2013, the World Health Organization officially recognized outdoor air pollution as another cause. But experts believe these factors account for only a fraction of lung cancer cases among young never-smokers. "These patients just aren't old enough to have had the degree of exposure we would typically associate with cancer," says Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD, director of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Though studies have linked lung cancer in never-smokers to other factors, from estrogen to viral infections like HPV, none has emerged as a definitive cause. 

Researchers are having success looking for answers in the very place where cancer begins—our DNA. Advances in gene-sequencing technologies have helped doctors discover that certain cancer-causing mutations occur about two to six times more often in tumors of never-smokers than in tumors of those who have a history of lighting up. The good news: The FDA has approved drugs that can home in on these mutations and deactivate them. Although the meds are not a cure, they can buy some patients more time—sometimes years—before the cancer returns; in one clinical trial, a drug called Xalkori was found to slow the progression of a type of lung cancer more than twice as long as chemo. 

Jauregui-Baza had been on Xalkori for more than two years and says it allowed her to live "almost the same life as before cancer." Recently, however, it stopped working. Now on a new drug, she's also taking part in a first-of-its-kind study by the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute that's looking specifically at the DNA of young people with lung cancer. The hope is to identify additional mutations that could point the way to better treatments. Jauregui-Baza remains optimistic: "If I can stay alive until the next treatment comes, I have a good shot at beating this."

Sonia Williams of Spotlite Radio interviews President and CEO of The Joan Gaeta Lunt Cancer Fund, Joe Gaeta. From April 15th, 2014.

April 07, 2014 12:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time

SAN CARLOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (ALCF) today released the third in a series of Public Service Announcements featuring well-known celebrities to raise awareness for the nation’s number one cancer killer. Film director and actress Penny Marshall, who is a lung cancer survivor, is featured in the new 30-second PSA.

“There are so many people who are not aware that lung cancer takes more lives every year than breast, prostate and colon cancers combined. The sad reality is that anyone can get lung cancer”

“There are so many people who are not aware that lung cancer takes more lives every year than breast, prostate and colon cancers combined. The sad reality is that anyone can get lung cancer,” said Bonnie J. Addario, stage 3B lung cancer survivor and founder of the ALCF. “As a lung cancer survivor myself, I applaud Penny for helping us to raise awareness and educate patients so they can live longer.”

Marshall is known for her acting as well as directing careers, having starred in the 1970s and 80s sitcom Laverne & Shirley and later going on to direct successful movies such as A League of Their Own and Big.

Previous lung cancer Public Service Announcements featuring Maroon 5 and former NFL Wide Receiver Hank Baskett can be viewed here on the Foundation’s website.

Bonnie J. Addario, founder of the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation, issued the following statement in response to the Nov. 29 Dr. Oz segment on symptoms people worry about most:

"Dr. Oz,

"I'm sure you are aware by now that your segment on Friday, Nov. 29 -- 'The Alarmist Guide To The Symptoms You Worry About Most' -- caused quite a stir in the lung cancer community. A woman on your show complained about a nagging, persistent cough and read online that it may be a symptom of lung cancer. It IS a symptom of lung cancer. While you did advise her to see a physician if her cough continued for more than two weeks, you mislead your audience when you said, 'If you don't smoke you should always feel better about that.' You then proceeded to calm her fears and said she had post-nasal drip, not lung cancer.

"It is true that smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer, but more and more people every year are being diagnosed who have never smoked a day in their lives. Lung cancer in never-smokers, if it were a cancer by itself, is now the sixth deadliest cancer in the U.S. The American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 24,000 Americans will die of lung cancer in 2013 who never smoked. That is greater than the number of deaths associated with Leukemia, Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Liver, Ovarian and Bladder cancers. Because there is so little funding for lung cancer research we still don't know why the number of never-smokers with lung cancer are increasing. Prevention and early diagnosis are extremely challenging as there isn't a reliable early detection test other than a CT scan.

"You did provide the proper advice to your guest at the end of the segment, but the message heard loudly among the lung cancer community is that never-smokers shouldn't worry about lung cancer, which sadly today is not the message well respected physicians like you should send.

"In May of 2012 you aired this short but important PSA on your show that 'Not only smokers get lung cancer.' We hope you'll consider revisiting this statement in more detail on an upcoming episode and partnering with us to increase awareness of lung cancer.

"In 2006 I founded the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation, one of the largest and most active philanthropies dedicated to raising awareness and funding for lung cancer research and patient programs, with the ultimate goal of making lung cancer a chronically managed, survivable disease in the next 10 years. Our sister foundation, the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute, is launching a ground-breaking study in January called The Genomics of Young Lung Cancer Study, which aims to understand why never-smokers under the age of 40 are getting lung cancer and if they have a unique cancer subtype that could be treated differently. The research is being conducted by (list the institutions) Two patients who plan to enter the study, Ingrid Nunez and Emily Bennett-Taylor, were recently profiled in an article about the study in The Atlantic.

"This timely study offers you a great opportunity to clear up the confusion about smoking and lung cancer, and have a real discussion about the deadliest cancer in the U.S. and the world.

"Thank you in advance for understanding the concerns I am raising, and we look forward to working with you and your producers in 2014 to save lives."

Bonnie J. Addario

Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation
Media Contact:
Perry Communications Group
Matt Notley, 916-658-0144
[email protected]

Watch Lung Cancer Survivors Bonnie J. Addario and Emily Bennett Taylor talk about survival, friendship, and hope on the Steve Harvey Show!

Lung cancer survivor & Jill's Legacy advisory board member, Taylor Bell, was featured in the August 2013 issue of Cosmopolitan! Congratulations, Taylor!

You can read the Cosmopolitan article HERE.

Leading magazine downplays value of lung cancer screenings, to the detriment of advances in early detection research.

SAN CARLOS, Calif., March 20, 2013 /PRNewswire
-- 
The following statement was issued by Bonnie J. Addario regarding the March cover article in Consumer Reports: The cancer tests you need--and those you don't:

"I am appalled by the March 2013 Consumer Reports cover story (The cancer tests you need--and those you don't), because of the misleading and misguided message it sends to people who really need life-saving cancer screening tests, and how it discredits the value and importance of proper early detention cancer screening tests.

"The article's irresponsible reporting is best summed up in this statement on page 31: 'But most people shouldn't waste their time on screenings for bladder, lung, oral, ovarian, prostate, pancreatic, skin or testicular cancers.'

"Consumer Reports is one of the most trusted publications in America. Anyone, whether they know they are low or high risk, will read that statement and walk away believing early detection cancer screening tests are unnecessary. The six-page article mentions only twice that its ratings apply only to asymptomatic, low-risk population.

"Shame on Consumer Reports. We are talking about people's lives here.

"I myself am a lung cancer survivor. For more than a year I was misdiagnosed and not given an early detection screening test, even though I was in a high-risk category. When I was finally diagnosed I was stage 3B. Unlike so many others, I beat the odds. But my odds would have been better with an early detection cancer screening test. I founded the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation seven years ago to advocate and raise money for better research, education, early detection and treatment. Because something must be done.

The stats are staggering.

• Lung cancer kills more people than the next five biggest cancers combined.
  
• Eighty percent of new lung cancer cases are former smokers or never smokers.
  
• Yet the five-year survival rate has been unchanged for more than 40 years. Only 15 percent of diagnosed patients live longer than five years.
  
• More funding and better research will lead to more effective early detection screening, which will save and prolong lives.
  

"Cancer screening and treatment are certainly at a crossroads, as the article states. This is made clear as well by recent legislation to direct more tobacco settlement money to early lung cancer detection programs. But the article's irresponsible representation of the value of screening tests, I fear, might damage the progress my lung cancer foundation has made over the past seven years - just as we are making great strides.

"People cannot readily see symptoms of lung cancer. Symptoms are deep in the lungs, unlike breast cancer, where lumps can be felt and are visible. When you are diagnosed with lung cancer it is often at stage four, when it's too late.

"The Consumer Reports article makes only one responsible and thoughtful statement: 'Weighing the risks and benefits of cancer screening is best done in the context of a patient-doctor relationship.'

"Consumer Reports should stay out of the health care advice business, and stick to writing about toasters and washing machines. I wouldn't approach my doctor about whether I should buy a Honda or a Ford. And likewise, people should not consult Consumer Reports to help them decide whether or not to have a potentially life-saving cancer screening test."

About the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation 

The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation is one of the largest philanthropies (patient-founded, patient-focused, and patient-driven) devoted exclusively to eradicating Lung Cancer through research, early detection, education, and treatment. The Foundation works with a diverse group of physicians, organizations, industry partners, individuals, survivors, and their families to identify solutions and make timely and meaningful change. BJALCF was established on March 6, 2006 as a 501c(3) non-profit organization and has raised more than $9 million for lung cancer research.

Originally published by Christina DesMarais at PCWorld.com on Feb. 2013.
---

IBM’s Watson supercomputer has gone from game show king to doctor’s office helper.

You may recall the epic man vs. machine battle two years ago in which the supercomputer beat former champions on the show Jeopardy.

Well, now there’s a Watson tablet and computer app doctors can use to help treat lung cancer and another for health insurance companies to figure out which claims to pay, reports The Associated Press.

For the cancer program, Watson analyzed 1,500 lung cancer cases from medical records, plus millions of pages of medical text. It also is able to learn when corrected for generating a wrong answer. Armed with all this data, Watson will suggest to doctors which treatments will most likely succeed, prioritized by its level of confidence in them.

The Maine Center for Cancer Medicine and WestMed in New York's Westchester County will both be using the lung cancer app by March.

Health insurer WellPoint, which actually will be selling both applications as part of an agreement with IBM, is already using the Watson app in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Wisconsin to sift through insurance claims and determine which ones to authorize.

Since Watson’s victory on Jeopardy, IBM says the supercomputer’s performance has increased by 240 percent and been used to analyze finance and health care data as well as in a university setting to research big data, analytics and cognitive computing.

The company also is moving some of its underlying technologies from the supercomputer into new entry-level servers used by SMBs. IBM’s recently announced Power Express servers will integrate some hardware and software elements derived from Watson.

Expect to hear more about Watson—IBM says its use “will be expanding to production-level deployments in new use cases and industries going forward.”

Check out this two-minute video, in which doctors talk about how Watson will be used to determine treatments for lung cancer: