Heather Saler was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2003, when she was only 33. What’s more, she’d never smoked a cigarette in her life. It didn’t make sense. We featured her story in the July 2006 issue of Reader’s Digest. We also shot some video footage of her when everyone was optimistic about her prognosis.

But living happily ever after was not to be. Recently I was devastated to learn that she died earlier this year. Her story had touched me because it was so tragic and inexplicable. She spent a lot of her time raising money for this under-funded cancer that kills more Americans each year than breast, prostate, colorectal, and pancreatic cancers combined. Lisa Collier Cool, who wrote our story about Heather, shares her thoughts, below.

The Battle of Her Life
By Lisa Collier Cool

To Heather Saler, battling lung cancer was like a “series of slippery rocks I’ve had to climb…I don’t know where I’ll end up, but whatever the obstacles are, I’m determined to take that next step.” On November 1, her friends, family, and patient advocates from her state, New Jersey, will hold the fifth annual Heather Saler Walk for Lung Cancer. She launched this event after learning she had the disease in 2003. Like one in five women (and one in 10 men) who get it, she was a nonsmoker.

When she received the devastating diagnosis, her son, Tyler Rudnick, was only six. At times, she wondered if he’d remember her when she was gone. “I’d had to beat this monster, because Tyler needed me and I needed him,” she told me in 2006, while I was writing her story, “Why Me?” for Reader’s Digest. I was struck by this beautiful young mom’s remarkable pluck—and optimism—in the face of grim odds. Only 15 percent of people with her stage of the disease are cured, and most don’t survive more than two years.

Heather’s mission was to make the most of the time she had left. She was still thin and frail after grueling rounds of chemo and radiation when she learned that there was no event in her area to raise awareness of lung cancer—the leading cause of cancer death for Americans. She organized the first walk in November, 2004, raising $31,000 for research. The four walks held so far have brought in over $250,000. And each year, Tyler, now 11, contributed to the effort by running a lemonade stand.

This November, her husband, Brad, hopes to raise $100,000, to carry on Heather’s legacy. I truly believe she’ll be there in spirit, cheering her supporters on, as they take the next step together, toward the quest for a cure.