The fifth annual Free To Breathe 5K for lung cancer will take place this Saturday in Tacoma’s Dickman Mill Park. The race has already raised thousands in funds from individuals and teams. Attendance is expected to number in the 300s; possibly the 400s.

Bonney Laker Julie Drobny—the woman who shepherded the National Lung Cancer Partnership to its first, and so far only, Free to Breathe event in the Pacific Northwest—remembers when the 5K drew only dozens.

Drobny’s mother Judy Cooley was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2005, the growths discovered accidentally during an unrelated surgery. Cooley was a nonsmoker who hadn’t noticed any symptoms before her doctor’s discovery.

“There’s not a lot of symptoms until you reach the later stages of lung cancer,” Drobny said. “Pneumonia. Bronchitis. But a lot of people don’t know they have it until it’s progressed considerably.”

The family was overcome with a combination of shock and fear. Drobny took to the internet to research survivors’ stories; a resource that proved to be scarce under the pall of the deadliest cancer.

What she did find was the NLCP, a fundraising and advocacy group headquartered out of Madison, Wisconsin. Drobny submitted an application to attend the 2008 Lung Cancer Advocacy Summit—a process that requires an essay detailing the applicant’s commitment to advocacy and awareness. It was at the summit she first learned about the Free To Breathe 5K.

The fundraiser had only recently inaugurated in 2006, with one 5K in Philadelphia. Two East Coast 5Ks were held in 2007, but NLCP sought aggressive expansion.

Drobny believed she could help, and decided to found a Tacoma chapter with the help and expertise of the Tacoma City Marathon’s race director.

That first 5K was held in September 2008; Cooley was able to see her daughter’s efforts come to fruition before her death later that year.

Money raised from Free To Breathe 5Ks fund education and awareness campaigns, as well as research grants.

On-site registration for the Tacoma Free To Breathe opens at 7:30 a.m. and requires a $35 fee. Runners take off at 9 a.m., followed by walkers five minutes later. A 1-mile walk begins at 9:15 a.m.

Dickman Mill Park can be found at 2432 Ruston Way in Tacoma.