ANNUAL FUNDRAISER
The Incline in Manitou Springs, Colorado was originally a cog railroad track built to bring building supplies up to crews working on Pike’s Peak. Today, the railroad ties from the cog railroad serve as a stairway up a portion of Pike’s Peak. Although the Incline is only about one mile in length (0.88 miles to be exact), the ascension averages a 41% incline (68% at its highest) and there isa 2,000 foot climb in elevation from 6000 to 8000 feet.
Evan Spirito climbed the Incline several times after being diagnosed with nonsmall cell lung cancer, once carrying his dog, Brady, up part of the way. He was able to do so because of an experimental drug that for a period of time left him feeling healthy and symptom free. Unfortunately, treatment resistant mutations have been found to commonly occur in patients who have an initial excellent response to targeted oral treatments, which happened to Evan.
On April 30th, 2016, Tony Spirito plans on climbing the Incline to raise money for cancer research, specifically, on how to best combat the treatment resistance that arises in novel treatments for nonsmall cell lung cancer. The goal is to raise 5 dollars for each of the 2,744 railroad tie steps on the Incline for a total of $13,720.
Tony will be accompanied on this climb by David Quon, the father of Chris Quon, a teammate of Evan’s on the Colorado College (CC) lacrosse team, who lost his life to illness in 2009. Chris, who was a great support after Evan was diagnosed with cancer, organized an annual soccer fundraiser at CC to help raise money for the American Cancer Society. This event, which is now called the Quony Cup, is organized by the CC lacrosse team each spring. A few weeks before he died, Evan requested that the Christopher Quon Foundation be supported with donations in his name. A portion of the money raised on the Incline Climb will also be earmarked for the Christopher Quon Foundation’s annual donation to the American Cancer Society.
Please consider supporting cancer research so another person with lung cancer can get a chance to climb the Incline. And any fellow climbers are welcome to join Tony and David on their climb! If you are not acclimated to high altitude, the climb takes about 1 ½ to 2 hours.
Donations can be made online here: http://evanspirito.com/donate/
or by mail at: EVAN SPIRITO MEMORIAL FOUNDATION 11 South Angell St, Box 326, Providence, RI 02906
Your generosity is, as always, greatly appreciated.
The Evan Spirito Memorial Foundation Board of Directors
