Janet Crane’s husband Dan lost his battle with lung cancer in September 2007. Janet and her family marked the first anniversary of his death by organizing the Dan Crane Beach Walk in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire and St. Petersburg, Florida. The events raised more than $170,000 for lung cancer research at Mass General.
“Dan Crane loved his life and lived it with great enthusiasm,” Janet writes in the web site for the walk. “Dan fought this killer disease with the passion and dignity that defined his life. These events brought Dan’s life to a wonderful conclusion, filled with love, life and hope.”
After the Hampton Beach walk, Dan’s physician, Panos Fidias, MD, clinical director of the Center for Thoracic Cancers, spoke of the major clinical trial that now bears Dan’s name. Dan initially benefited from the smart drug, Iressa, but then built up resistance to the drug. The Dan Crane Lung Cancer Research Fund will nourish clinical and research priorities that include the work of MGH researcher, Jeffrey Engelman, MD, PhD, who is identifying mechanisms of drug resistance in patients.
