Metastatic lung cancer patient could play U.S. Open 2008

Golf Digest is hosting a competition, which will allow one “normal person” to golf in a celebrity foursome just prior to the U.S. Open. The magazine received over 56,000 100-word essays and John Atkinson, a metastatic lung cancer patient, was selected as one of the five finalists. The winner will play with Matt Lauer, Justin Timberlake and Tony Romo and their round will be videotaped and edited to one hour and televised at 2 p.m. on June 15 in the hour leading into NBC Sports’ final-round coverage of the U.S. Open.

I think this is a rare opportunity to raise awareness about lung cancer and I ask that everyone reading this blog please take three minutes to register on the Golf Digest Web site and vote for John Atkinson. The person with the most votes gets to play, so together we can make sure that John Atkinson has his day at Torrey Pines for him and for all lung cancer patients and those of us who would like to draw attention to this devastating disease. The voting is open the entire month of April and you can vote once every day.

John is a never-smoking, 39-year-old professional with three young children who has Stage 4 non–small cell lung cancer, specifically adenocarcinoma. He is being treated on study at Methodist Hospital in Omaha, Neb. and his disease has remained stable over the past year. John mentions that this opportunity is the kind of thing which will show Americans that anything is possible, even when facing a life altering disease. John says, “If I can beat America’s deadliest cancer, I can break 100 at Torrey Pines.”

John considers Arnold Palmer an inspiration and uses his words to describe his fight: "I've always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed entirely against me. I never quit trying; I never felt that I didn't have a chance to win."

Please take a moment and vote for John!