The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation

The Cathedral High School Fighting Irish
We, at the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF), understand more than anybody, that people follow leaders, and we thank the students and staff of Cathedral High School for leading the way, raising over $1900 dollars for Lung Cancer Research and like the Fighting Irish we know and love…Notre Dame may have taken the “name” but it started here first in this high school and the tradition lives on with Mrs. Fitzgerald’s Warriors.

To all of Mrs. Fitzgerald’s Warriors…each and every one of you…all students, faculty and staff of Cathedral High School…and to Mrs. Fitzgerald herself…BJALCF thanks you from the bottom of our hearts and lungs for standing up and fighting Lung Cancer with us, in a way the rest of the world should adopt.

Some ask, what makes the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF) different?

BJALCF is one of the only Lung Cancer foundations dedicated to raising the survival rate for Lung Cancer that has a living leader: Bonnie J. Addario. Sad, but true. With 450 people dying a day of Lung Cancer in the United States, alone, nearly 1.5 million worldwide, it’s not only going to take a village, but many voices in every village in every city, town and country and every corner of the world. So, let’s take Indiana, for a prime example, of what needs to happen, and Mrs. Fitzgerald’s  Warriors.

Surviving Lung Cancer and turning it into a manageable chronic disease will happen in our lifetime—as people, especially the next generation, rise up and say, “Enough is enough.”

The students and staff of Cathedral High School have been doing just that. When faced with the worst three words their favorite English teacher, Barbara Fitzgerald, had to endure, they are enduring together, rising up and kicking Lung Cancer’s arse.
http://www.cathedral-irish.org/

P.S. Bonnie J. Addario’s mother’s maiden name was O’Brien. There are no coincidences.

The following letter arrived on May 6, 2009, addressed to one of Bonnie’s best friends, Deb Flanagan.

Dear Deb,

Enclosed is the check we discussed for the foundation. Barb and I were very grateful to Bonnie and the Foundation for their willingness to assist us in the timely review of all the medical treatment related to Barb’s condition. Their confirmation of the direction and treatment plan that was created by the Central Indiana Cancer Center was very reassuring and provided us the confidence to move forward as rapidly as we did in beginning her treatments. The treatment path has been difficult and very aggressive, but Barb has been able to withstand all the chemo and radiation treatments as scheduled and currently is scheduled for post treatment testing next week. Her doctors are fairly certain she is in remission and plan a prophylactic cranial radiation program beginning in the next few weeks to minimize the chance of any recurrence of the cancer.

Barb has returned to teaching this week, and although she is tired, she seems very pleased to be back at Cathedral. The check amount represents the proceeds from the sale of T-shirts created and sold by the students and staff at Cathedral High School who wanted to demonstrate their support and concern for Barb during this very difficult time. The Cathedral family has prayed for us, fed us through weekly meals, showered us with cards, gifts and well wishes from current and past students located throughout the world. Over 800 T-shirts were sold and worn proudly by the students and staff to demonstrate their concern and heart-felt wishes for Barb’s recovery in her battle against this disease. They all wore them again this week when she returned to school.

It is our hope that these funds will be added to the many others raised by the foundation in their continuing efforts to overcome the effects of Lung Cancer for so many other victims of this dreaded disease. Please share with Bonnie our sincere appreciation for her and her Foundation’s support and please know how much your support and friendship in these past few months have meant to us.

Love,

John

The following announcement was prepared and read to the Faculty at Cathedral by the Academic Dean, Lisa Ford, in the presentation of the Teacher of the Year award to Barbara Fitzgerald. The poem was written by the sophomore boys:

The greatest honor that a teacher at Cathedral can receive is to be selected by his or her peers as the “Teacher of the Year.” Our faculty is superior in all regards…creativity, enthusiasm, commitment, compassion, and unselfish motivation. To be recognized by great teachers as being a “great teacher” is both incredibly humbling and incredibly uplifting.

It would be an understatement to say that this year’s “Teacher of the Year” has been an inspiration to every single one of us. The professionalism and commitment that this teacher has demonstrated during this, the twenty-first year of service to our school are the reason that our colleagues voted overwhelmingly to honor this individual for the second time.

Because faculty comments were not solicited this year when the voting took place, I sought the advice for this tribute from the sophomore students who spend a great deal  of time and energy studying poetry. As a tribute to our favorite teacher and their favorite teacher, here is the product of that solicitation: (Please remember that these are the words and ideas of that very special and rather challenging segment of our population known as “sophomore boys.”)

Who shares a laugh.
Who shares a tear.
Who never lets us down?

Who shares a smile,
Who shares a sigh,
Who never keeps a frown?

Who brings us hope,
Who brings us love,
Who always wants our best?

Who brings us work,
Who brings us more work,
Who never lets us rest?

Who gives her all,
And wants that from us?
Who does it all,
Without a fuss?
Who’s more rockin’
Than the Greatest Hits?
Why we all know…
It’s our beloved Fitz!

Barb, we hope that you feel the deep and always-present respect that we all hold for you. Six years ago, you won this award, and there is no one who deserves to win it again more than you do.

While I really wanted to close with a truly pithy and pragmatic math quote, I thought you…and the rest of the audience…would probably appreciate my closing with a more literary thought. During my research, aided by “the boys,” I found this quote from Transcendental Theodore Parker. While he was describing none other than Ralph Waldo Emerson, his words might just as easily have been referring to you.

His “brilliant genius” drew “the eyes of…young people to look up to that great new start, a beauty and mystery, which charmed for the moment, while it gave also perennial inspiration, as it led them forward along new paths, and toward new hopes.” *

Thank you, Barb, for sharing your perennial inspiration, your new paths, and your new hopes with your students and with us. Congratulations and thank you for being with us.

•    Baker, Carlos (1996). Emerson Among the Eccentrics: A Group Portrait. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 0-670-86675-X

Letter to the Principal from Bonnie
June 6, 2009

Mr. Dave Worland
Principal
Cathedral High School
5225 East 56th Street
Indianapolis, IN  46266
317.542.1681 ext. 337

Dear Mr. Worland,

Where do I begin?

The fundraising efforts of your students, faculty, and staff on behalf of my dear friend Deborah Flanagan’s friend, Barb Fitzgerald, make each and every precious moment of why I began this Foundation—worthwhile.

There have been times when I have seriously questioned what in the world I got myself into and how to get out. I was ready to retire and had my whole life of spending time with my six grandchildren (at the time), ahead of me. I now have eight. My husband Tony and I decided to put everything we have into increasing the survival rate of Lung Cancer when we realized during my diagnosis and recovery just how little was being done for people like me, and now Barb.

If ever I have a doubt or if ever I want to turn back, it has become impossible when I witness the incredible beauty and force and compassion of your students as they stand up for their teacher, Barbara, and say…”No more!”

I know that “school’s out for the Summer.” But I hope, in the Fall, you will take a moment, especially for the “sophomore boys” to let them know their work, their love and their commitment to their favorite teacher has injected me and this Foundation with a kind of support that fuels our fire that no words can describe.

Please let them know that I now look up to each and every one of them, and consider them true leaders, and I look forward to hearing about all their future accomplishments. Please let them know, when it comes to Lung Cancer, they have already improved the landscape that has been unchanged for over four decades…they have done this…made change…and given a huge dose of hope for Mrs. Fitzgerald, for me, and for this Foundation. Please thank them for being Mrs. Fitzgerald’s Warriors, and mine.

With love and immeasurable gratitude,

Bonnie J. Addario
www.lungcancerfoundation.org