By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

WOONSOCKET — Not to be confused with the New York City heavy metal band of the same name, the “Twisted Sisters” are four siblings from the Woonsocket area whose mission is to raise awareness and money in the fight against lung cancer.

The sisters — Michelle Belhumeur of Woonsocket, Deon Choquette of Bellingham, Sue Rheaume of Blackstone, and Dee Larsen of Charlton, Mass. — lost their mother to the disease last month and channeled their grief into a campaign to raise awareness about lung cancer and to raise money for the National Lung Cancer Partnership.
The sisters, as well as Rheaume’s daughter, Jen Rheaume of Grafton, took part in the first annual “Free to Breathe” National Lung Cancer Partnership 5K run-walk on Oct. 11 at Roger Williams Park, walking in memory of their mother, Lucille Fleuette of Blackstone, who died of the disease on Sept. 1. 
Free to Breathe events raise public awareness of lung cancer in communities across the nation. The proceeds from the events help fund the National Lung Cancer Partnership’s research, education, and awareness programs.
The National Lung Cancer Partnership is a group of doctors, researchers, patient advocates, and lung cancer survivors dedicated to raising public awareness of the disease and generating funding for lung cancer research. The Free to Breathe program was initiated in 2006 in Philadelphia. Since then, it has more than doubled in size each year.
This was the first time the event was held in Rhode Island.
Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer and more people die from this disease than colorectal, breast and prostate cancer put together. Research funding for lung cancer, however, lags behind the other cancers.
“We have all seen how the power of advocacy and passion to help fund research for other diseases have caused great strides and inroads into better treatments and ultimately higher survival of the disease,” says Belhumeur. “We need to do the same for Lung cancer.”
Belhumeur says her mother was diagnosed with lung cancer in November of 2007.
“She had actually gone in to have her thyroid checked and that’s when they found two spots on her lung,” she said. “It was stage one lung cancer and operable so she was operated on the day after Thanksgiving.”
For five months after that, Belhumeur says her mother was cancer free. “They (doctors) felt they got it all and we were all feeling pretty good that she had beaten this.”
Five weeks after that, her mother began experiencing pain. When she went back to the hospital her doctors found that the cancer had metastasized to stage four, which is inoperable. She underwent intensive radiation and chemotherapy treatments, but eventually lost her battle with the disease on Sept. 1.
“We had decided over the summer, while my mother was still alive, that we wanted to find some kind of cancer awareness event to participate in and that’s when one of my sisters found out about the Free to Breathe event, which was being held for the first time in Rhode Island.”
She said it was her sister Deon who came up with the name of the team, which actually had nothing to do with the rock band of the same name, but with the white lung cancer awareness ribbons similar to the pink ribbons symbolizing breast cancer awareness. “The ribbons are twisted so that’s how she came up with the name,” Belhumeur explained.
It was Deon who also designed the logo for the team’s t-shirts. Each team member wore a light blue t-shirt with a logo showing the National Lung Cancer Partnership logo and lung cancer awareness ribbon shaped into the form of an angel with wings. “My mother collected angels,” she says.
The sisters have already raised between $1,500 and $2,000 in donations to help infuse needed funding to encourage doctors and scientists to pursue vital research that will one day lead to better treatments, survival and perhaps a cure.
Anyone wishing to make a donation to the National Lung Cancer Partnership thru the Twisted Sisters team can do so by making a secure, on-line donation thru its webpage at www.firstgiving.com/twistedsisters. The webpage will be open for donations until Nov. 8. You can also make a donation thru the NLCP website at www.nationallungcancerpartnership.org