My father, Mick Karbula, was an otherwise healthy 59-year-old when he was diagnosed with lung cancer in the spring of 2016. Unfortunately, only six months later, we lost him to the disease. Since his passing, my family has come to realize that fundraising for lung cancer related causes is both scarce and difficult, due to its stigmatic relationship to smoking. However, many victims of the disease either never smoked, or, like my father, quit smoking more than a decade prior to their diagnosis. This stigma and the associated guilt that victims feel once diagnosed, makes lung cancer a much different battle than other cancers. In 2021, nearly 250,000 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with lung cancer (that is more than will be diagnosed with lymphoma, prostate, colorectal and breast cancers combined.) Even now, with so many medical advances, only 30% of those 250,000 diagnosed this year are expected to survive five years.

With this in mind, The Mick Karbula Memorial Foundation was established to advocate for further lung cancer research, help diminish the stigma of lung cancer through education, and support local victims of lung cancer by providing care kits filled with items to make their treatment more comfortable, as well as information about lung cancer-specific support resources available to them.

The Mick Karbula Memorial Foundation can only achieve its goals with the assistance of generous donations from members of our community. Without these donations, raising funds to serve those in our area, and advocating for further research would not be possible. 

This year our primary fundraiser will be the Mick Karbula Memorial Golf Outing on May 23, 2021 at Twin Lakes Golf Course in Mansfield, Ohio. We’d love to have your business highlighted as donor at the event! An in-kind donation would greatly add to the excitement of the raffle, and the overall success of our event and ultimately our mission. We hope that you will help support our efforts. 

We greatly appreciate your consideration and generosity. We will be proud to publicly thank you on the foundation website, as well as display our gratitude at the event.