Southern Miss' head women's basketball coach raises awareness of lung cancer in D.C.

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss Head Women’s Basketball Coach Joye Lee-McNelis is in Washington D.C. as a part of the American Lung Association’s Lung Force initiative, a move to ask Congress on March 14 for funding for the National Institutes of Health in 2019 so the treatment and detection for lung cancer can improve.

“I am humbled and honored to be selected to represent Mississippi in Washington D.C. during Lung Force Advocacy week,” McNelis said. “My diagnosis was a surprise as I thought I was having heart issues. I was diagnosed with Adenocarcinoma of the lung on Feb. 22, 2017 and on March 22 I underwent surgery to remove left upper lobe of my lung and some lymph nodes.”

Lung Force is a new national movement led by the American Lung Association to unite women against lung cancer, the number one cancer killer of women. Lung Force has three priorities: 1) Make lung cancer a cause that people care about—and act on; 2) Educate and empower patients and healthcare providers and 3) Raise critical funds for lung cancer research. The American Lung Association's Lung Force is nationally presented by CVS Health. Find out more at lungforce.org and lung.org.