One of terrific people you'll get to meet tomorrow morning at the Free to Breathe run and walk at NC State's Centennial Campus is Wake County Lead Speech-Language Pathologist Tomma Hargraves.

On Monday Tomma will celebrate her third year anniversary as a lung cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with stage 3/B non-small cell lung cancer on November 9, 2006, after finding a hard pea-sized node in her left neck/shoulder region. The diagnosis was shocking as Tomma had a very healthy life style. There were no warning signals - no cough, loss of weight, pain. She had a tumor in the right lung, lymph node involvement but the only lymph node outside of my chest was the one she found. 

Tomma participated in a very aggressive clinical trial at UNC. It was a 3 stage treatment with high dose of chemo, lower dose of chemo, radiation 12% higher than normal treatments, and targeted therapies including Avastin and Tarceva. She had all the typical...

What are you doing Saturday morning? I’d like you to join me on NCSU’s Centennial Campus for the 3rd annual Free to Breathe event. There is something for everyone – a 5K run/walk, a one mile run/walk and rally.

Free to Breathe was organized by a group of dedicated survivors, advocates and healthcare professionals. The goal is pretty simple: to raise awareness and research funding for lung cancer.

Here are some facts about lung cancer that may surprise you. Lung cancer kills more people than breast, prostate, colon, liver, kidney and melanoma cancers combined. You don’t have to smoke to get lung cancer. Each year in this country lung cancer in people who have never smoked kills more people than AIDS. Every two minutes someone is diagnosed with the disease.

We’re expecting a crowd of close to 1,000 Saturday for the event presented by Duke Cancer Center Raleigh. It’s not too late to register. You can do so from 7:30-9:00 Saturday...

How good are you on North Carolina history? November has been a very newsworthy month for the Old North State. Here are ten questions for those bold enough to try.

(1) Name the Hertford County native who received a patent on a revolving six-barrel machine gun on this day in 1862.

(2) Name the Guilford County lawyer who on November 5, 1968, became the first black in modern history to win a seat in the NC House.

(3) Name the Johnston County beauty who married Frank Sinatra in November of 1951.

(4) Name the new Republican governor voted in on the coattails of Richard Nixon in November of 1972.

(5) Name the NC sharecropper’s child who was elected Philadelphia’s first black mayor on November 8, 1983.

(6) Name the first NC governor to take advantage of gubernatorial succession approved by Tar Heel voters on November of 1977.

(7) Name the famous aviator who landed her autogiro in Charlotte on November 10, 1931

(8) Name the...

How many of you watch WRAL’s News on Fox 50 between 7:00A.M. and 9:00A.M.? Kelcey, Elizabeth, Brian and I really enjoy our two hour broadcast on Fox because it is a little less formatted and allows us more flexibility than other programs. One of the fun segments in “Hometown Hello” at 7:10 and 8:10 each morning. We profile a NC community as part of a week-long theme. The theme this week is communities named for precious stones.

What other themes should we tackle in coming weeks? Please offer you suggestions. In recent weeks we’ve focused on movie towns, towns with colors and communities with girl and boy names.

Here are the five Hometown Hello locations this precious stone theme week. Did I miss any?

Diamond Grove

-n Northampton County

-Post Office here 1828

-near Conway

-near Milwaukee

Sapphire

-sw Transylvania County

-near Horsepasture...

(Guest Commentary)

Hi! My name is Rufus! I’m pretty new to the neighborhood. I’m Bill Leslie’s new puppy. Pops took me home over the weekend. They tell me I'm a cock-a-poo.

I was born nine weeks ago near Oxford. I come from a large family. There are seven of us. Most of us are boys. I love to play football. I also love to play with my new stuffed friends including a monkey, a husky and a squeaky alien.

Mom and Dad say I passed the tummy test unlike Sparky who died a year ago. I love to roll over on my back and have my tummy scratched. They tell me I'm going to be a sweet and loving dog.

So far I've only had two little accidents. One happened near the fern plant in the sunroom. I swear that plant told me to do my business.

I look forward to meeting Tracker even though he is a lot bigger. 

What is the name of your dog? What are your favorite puppy stories. I would love to hear them. What do you think of my name?

Pops...