Are You Ready for Giving Tuesday? CHEST Foundation Makes It Easy to Donate
By: Vanessa Claude
November 19, 2018
With Giving Tuesday and the holiday season around the corner, share the gift of giving today. Giving Tuesday is the global day for giving back and is happening this year on November 27. Become a lung health champion and learn how you can advance lung health, create healthier communities, improve patient outcomes, and save lives by supporting the CHEST Foundation.
What Your Donations Are Used for and How They Make an Impact
The mission of the CHEST Foundation is to champion lung health by supporting clinical research, community service, and patient education resources. This includes creating patient guides and disease awareness campaigns that help patients and caregivers more fully understand and manage lung diseases, support lung health community service projects in the United States and abroad, and increase grant funding for clinical research projects in chest medicine.
Your support helps patients like Robert (Bob) Castle who was diagnosed with COPD in 2003 at the age of 58; caregivers like Bob’s wife, Anne; and physicians who provide patient care, like CHEST member, Deborah Jo Levine, MD, MS, FCCP.
Bob went from working hard as a general contractor; golfing; or spending his time with his wife, Anne; to having trouble with activities that used to come easily, like walking, breathing, and traveling. “Oxygen is like gold when you have COPD,” Bob recalled, “but breathing still comes with a struggle.” Bob also struggled in airports: needing extra time to get through security, planning ahead with the amount of oxygen that needs to be packed, and taking extra precautions like wearing a mask due to increased germ exposure on planes. “Running out of oxygen is like running of gasoline. You have to manage your disease, plan ahead, and be aggressive with your health.”
Not only was the disease hard on Bob but also for his wife, Anne. She struggled watching her husband suffer but was able to find a good support group to share her experience and hearing others that gave her hope. Bob stresses the importance of your caregiver, “Don’t ever sell the caregiver short; they see you struggle day in and day out and it gets hard for them in the end.”
Bob lived with COPD for 10 years before he was fortunately approved for a lung transplant. Because of Bob’s determination, he celebrated the 5-year anniversary of his lung transplant this November. When he had his check-up, he was excited to tell the CHEST Foundation team that he was able to walk over 1/3 of a mile in under 6 minutes. He is now able to golf 18-holes again and lives a relatively normal life taking immunosuppressants. “Bob is a very determined patient and never lost sight of living life to the fullest. As a CHEST physician, the overall care and support system is extremely important for every patient,” Deborah Jo Levine, MD, MS, FCCP.
What Are the Ways to Give Back?
We’re glad you asked! There are six easy ways to make a donation to the CHEST Foundation’s efforts to champion lung health, including:
- Online: chestfoundation.org/donate.
- Call: +1 (224) 521-9527.
- Mail: Download the donation form
and mail it to CHEST Foundation, 2595 Patriot Blvd., Glenview, IL 60026.
- Facebook: Donate your birthday to the CHEST Foundation on Facebook! The CHEST Foundation is now a registered 501c3 non-profit organization on Facebook. In lieu of gifts, empower your friends and family to make an impact on the advancement of lung health by donating to the CHEST Foundation. To set the CHEST Foundation for your birthday fundraiser, do the following: 1. Click on the fundraising tab on the left-hand side of your News Feed. 2. Select “CHEST Foundation” as the charity to which you want to give. 3. Set your fundraising goal as well as your fundraiser’s end date. 4. Click “Share” to add the fundraiser to your timeline and share with friends!
- AmazonSmile: Did you know you can donate to the CHEST Foundation through your Amazon purchases? By using AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to the foundation. Just search for CHEST Foundation and continue to shop as normal. For more help; follow these instructions.
- Combined Federal Campaign (CFC): The CHEST Foundation is now approved to participate as a National Organization in the 2018 Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). All federal government employees of the United States can now donate online to the CHEST Foundation through CFC to support lung health. Simply visit the CFC website and search our code 24565.