About Us

Our Mission

Sweat For Breath Foundation aims to extend and improve the lives of people with ALK+ lung cancer by raising funds for cutting-edge research and patient support programs and promoting awareness.

Our Vision

We envision a world where ALK+ lung cancer is a chronic or even curable condition and the next person diagnosed with lung cancer does not have to live under the current stigma.

Our Pledge

We will SWEAT so those impacted by ALK+ lung cancer can have more BREATH.

We will #SweatForBreath.

Our Impact

In 2023, over 750 donors gave nearly $200,000 to the #SweatForBreath grassroots campaign. 100% of the proceeds went directly to The Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Center in Baltimore, MD to support Dr. Vincent Lam’s ALK+ lung cancer research. This support provided the critical funding needed to launch Dr. Lam’s clinic trial, which will evaluate the safety of a cancer peptide vaccine to prevent or delay acquired resistance in advanced ALK+ lung cancer patients currently on ALK targeted therapy. Dr. Lam’s vaccine is the first ALK+ vaccine in the world to be tested in a clinical trial. Dr. Lam administered the vaccine to the first patient in clinic on May 13, 2024!

Donor Impact Report

Our Start

#SweatForBreath started as a grassroots fundraising campaign during Lung Cancer Awareness Month in 2023. After being diagnosed with Stage IV ALK+ lung cancer in November 2022, David Cornbrooks became keenly aware that he was benefiting from the selfless fundraising and awareness efforts of the patients before him.

The #SweatForBreath campaign in 2023 became David, and his wife, Lisa’s, way to help the next generation ALK+ lung cancer patients.

#SweatForBreath accelerated beyond more than just a typical fundraiser. The initiative quickly evolved into a community of patients, caregivers, family, and friends seeking to make David and Lisa’s vision a reality and the road to that vision more tolerable. People donated, sweat at the in-person cycle event, posted on social media, and helped fundraise through organizing group walks, selling art, “gifting” donations on behalf of clients, and much more.

Their success in 2023 compelled David and Lisa to officially transition the #SweatForBreath campaign into the Sweat For Breath Foundation, operating through a fiscal sponsorship with Players Philanthropy Fund, a Maryland charitable trust recognized by IRS as a tax-exempt public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (Federal Tax ID: 27-6601178).

Our Name

#SweatForBreath was the name of and social media hashtag for the grassroots fundraising campaign in November 2023. It builds on the message and core belief of ALK Positive, a patient-run advocacy group, that More Research = More Life and evoked a sense of urgency to do more.

Sweat

represents a call to action to exert a tireless effort to advance research for an underfunded disease at a tipping point.

Breath

symbolizes life and the extended life afforded by additional ALK+ lung cancer research.

David and Lisa asked family, friends, and colleagues to donate and post a picture of them doing an exercise or physical activity (i.e., “Sweat”) on social media to spread awareness of this disease.

[More Sweat = More Breath]