LUNGevity Celebration of HOPE Program - Other - Page 17
KATHY CUDDY
Lung Cancer Advocate and LUNGevity Volunteer
After co-chairing the planning committee
for LUNGevity’s Breathe Deep Boston Walk
for nearly twelve years, Kathy Cuddy is a
celebrated LUNGevity Walk coordinator.
Kathy’s connection to lung cancer began in 1999 when a
chest CT scan confirmed she had COPD but she was also
misdiagnosed as having lung cancer. After healing from the
shock of her misdiagnosis, she quicky lost a sister to lung
cancer, and then another sister, and then a brother-in-law.
Between November 2000 and April 2006, three relatives had
been lost to the disease. In response to these tragedies, she
set up a Charitable Gift Fund in her family name of Collins
so she could personally help fund lung cancer advocacy and
research. She searched for an organization she could join to
help facilitate much-needed change, and by chance caught
a television newscast on LUNGevity’s inaugural Boston Walk
in November of 2007. As a result, Kathy eventually called
LUNGevity to volunteer. “Do you want to volunteer at the
Walk?” someone asked her. “No! I want to be on the planning
committee” she replied. And Kathy drove about 140 miles
round trip to almost every meeting for the next twelve years.
In 2004 Kathy retired from her position as a Speech &
Language Pathologist in the Sandwich, MA Public Schools
after 33 years of service. Near the end of her Special
Education career, she helped pioneer a
unique intensive intervention program for
first grade students who were at risk for not
learning how to read and write; this program
drew attention from the Massachusetts State
House. During her career, Kathy had been an active leader
of the Teacher’s Union and served as the Special Education
Coordinator at the building level, an important leadership
role which included reviewing student educational plans and
supervising and evaluating staff.
As a resident of Sandwich, MA, she was appointed to the
Bicentennial Committee to help plan the town’s celebration
of the Nation’s Birthday. She also co-chaired the parade
committee for the town’s tricentennial celebration.
During her retirement years, Kathy has participated in
several studies of aging and health including the completed
L.E.A.P. Study plus the on-going COPDGene Study and the
COSMOS-Mind Trial.
These days, COVID permitting, she and her husband Jack,
prefer to be in their Florida home near their son, daughterin-law, and three twenty-something adult grandchildren.