By Anna Hughes | Photos courtesy of the American Lung Association

It’s not easy having to fight for air.

It’s unfair when the most basic human need—breathing—becomes a daily battle.

Unfortunately, that’s the reality for tens of millions of Americans living with a variety of lung health conditions: lung and respiratory diseases, asthma, and lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. The American Lung Association (ALA) says that about every two minutes, someone in the U.S. learns they have the disease. Furthermore, lung cancer claims the lives of over 340 people each day. That’s why the ALA is working so hard to fight this battle.

Fight for Air Climb will once again take place on March 9 at Oakbrook Terrace Tower.

Every year, more than 20 million people are helped by ALA’s programs and initiatives focused on education, advocacy, and research. But they’re more than just a big charity with big goals; they are working personally with individuals each and every day to make the world a safer and healthier place.

“We have lung health navigators available for [people] to call 24/7. If they get newly diagnosed with something, they have somebody walking them through those steps of treatment, diagnosis, what questions they should ask their doctors, what questions they may have for us,” Danielle Trojanek, the executive director for the ALA in the Greater Chicago area, explained.

“We also have a [24/7] quit-line for those that might want to learn how to quit smoking… We [also] do home assessments for those impacted by asthma. When we go into their homes, we assess their home and the quality of the air they’re breathing, and we will provide free resources, such as changing out their filters.”

One way the ALA raises money for these initiatives and others is through their Fight for Air Climb. This popular fundraising event takes place in dozens of cities around the country, including Chicago and Oak Brook. On Mar. 9, 2025, participants can climb the 984 stairs to the top of the Oakbrook Terrace Tower alongside others—helping fight for those who can’t.

“It really began by just saying, like, ‘Let’s climb. Let’s get fit. Let’s take the stairs for clean air and healthy lungs,’” Trojanek said. “From there, we’ve been at the Oakbrook Terrace Tower for many years now, climbing 30 floors of stairs for lung health, for those impacted by lung disease, for those advocating for lung health, and it’s an opportunity for people to come together.”

This is a fitness challenge for people of all ages and athletic abilities. Some participants will see how quickly they can scale the stairs multiple times. (Trojanek said that some climbers achieve up to 11 rounds.) Others choose to walk as a family or with friends. Local firefighters and first responders participate as well—in full gear—to symbolize that they constantly put their lives and lungs on the line for the community.

No matter your time, skill set, or reason for climbing, it’s all about coming together for a cause and raising money for a cure.

“It’s an overwhelming feeling of gratitude, obviously, for all of our supporters there, but for them, they see it as inspiration to be able to climb when others can’t,” Trojanek said. “A lot of the teams are doing it for somebody who might not be able to.”

“And then a lot of them,” Trojanek continued, “maybe they have gone through a lung transplant themselves, and they want to be able to prove to themselves that they can do this too, and so they actually have that overwhelming feeling of accomplishment.”

Each climber is asked to raise $100 to participate in the climb. This allows participants a chance to share their reasoning for climbing with neighbors or friends, hopefully raising additional awareness in the process. In many cases, fundraising is not about the cash but, instead, about the connection.

“We’ve seen as much as $30,000 from an individual team that was supporting their mother that had a lung transplant, and they came together, and they were just shocked at the amount of support that they received,” Trojanek said. “Others were saying, ‘I’m touched by this, I’m moved by this mission.’ I didn’t realize, you know, that there were so many people that I knew that who were impacted.’”

Anyone who donates can feel confident that their money is going: 90 cents of every dollar raised goes directly to their mission of changing lives.

“I think that’s really important because not every organization has that charity status that we do. So we’re really proud of that,” Trojanek said.

For more information on the Oak Brook and Chicago Fight for Air Climbs and how you can get involved, visit Lung.org.

Fight for Air Climb takes place in dozens of cities around the country.