Marlborough resident honors mother in Breathe Deep Boston

Karen Tucci, of Marlboro, has been an integral part of LUNGevity Foundation’s Breathe Deep Boston 5K Walk from the beginning. Her mother, Geri Norris, is a co-founder of the event.

Norris created the event with Rich Kaufman and the support of a small group of family, friends and volunteers. Norris wanted to raise money to help advance lung cancer research and treatments and create more awareness for the disease, which can afflict anyone, regardless of smoking history, gender, or ethnicity. Norris and Kaufman have since passed away. Norris’ legacy lives on through “Geri’s Inspiration,” a team of 15 walkers and volunteers who raise money for the cause in her honor.

On Saturday, Nov. 1, thousands of participants will find Tucci checking in people at the Breathe Deep Boston 5K Walk registration table, distributing t-shirts and collecting donations during the ninth annual Breathe Deep Boston 5K Walk. Tucci will walk alongside her father, husband, and children in the event.

Since its 2006 inception, Tucci has served on the Breathe Deep Boston 5K Walk committee as a sponsorship coordinator and co-heads the onsite registration tent on event day. For six years, she and her mother walked side by side in the event. Since 2006, Tucci and her family have helped attract thousands of dollars in sponsorships to underwrite Breathe Deep Boston and since 2008, she has personally raised more than $8,000 for the event.

“The first year we didn’t know what to expect,” says Tucci. “We thought we would be the only people, but 400 people came out to support the event and now it is has grown to over 2,000 people. My mother would be thrilled so many people are coming out to raise money for lung cancer research.”

In the fall of 2001, Norris went to the emergency room for what she thought was pneumonia. Further testing revealed it was lung cancer. She immediately started chemo and radiation at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, near her Vermont home. Tucci was living in Texas at the time and left her job to be by her mother’s side. By the spring, Norris was feeling better and she was declared cancer-free. Five years later, she found a lump in her breast and was diagnosed with breast cancer. Consequently, she was treated with chemotherapy, but the side effects left her with heart failure. Norris eventually passed away in Nov. 2011.

“Lung cancer is often detected by accident and it seems is often terminal,” says Tucci. “We walk to raise money so that others don’t have to go through what my mother experienced.”

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, claiming approximately 160,000 lives every year. Currently, only 17 percent of people diagnosed with lung cancer survive five years post-diagnosis. With early detection, there is hope of long-term survivorship.

The Breathe Deep Boston 5K Walk is one of more than 80 LUNGevity events that take place annually across the country. Since 2002, they have collectively raised nearly $16 million for the LUNGevity Foundation, the nation’s largest private organization dedicated to research for the early detection and treatment of lung cancer. Since 2006, the Breathe Deep Boston 5K Walk has alone raised more than $1 million. This year’s fundraising goal is $250,000.

Participants often walk in honor of someone currently battling lung cancer or in memory of someone lost to the disease. Individuals and/or businesses are encouraged to sign up as teams. The event will take place at DCR’s Mother’s Rest Area at Carson Beach in South Boston. The walk will kick-off at 11 a.m. and the course is stroller and wheelchair-friendly.

To register for the Breathe Deep Boston 5K Walk on Nov. 1, or to support a walker, visit lungevity.org/boston or call (312) 407-6100. Participants can enter the discount code BREATHE for $5 off the registration fee. November is lung cancer awareness month.