By Stephanie Eisemann, news correspondent 

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation announced on May 12 via Twitter that the Zakim Bridge will “shine turquoise this week,” through Sunday, May 18 for Lung Cancer Awareness.  The lighting is part of the LUNG FORCE Turquoise Takeover, a new launch of the American Lung Association (ALA), in honor of National Women’s Lung Health Week.

In a press release from the ALA, the organization elaborated that LUNG FORCE is “a movement to unite women to stand together against lung cancer and for lung health.”  While November was officially named Lung Cancer Awareness Month, starting with Lung Cancer Awareness Day in 1995, this week in May is specific to women’s lung health.

“Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer of women with one of the lowest five-year survival rates of all cancer types, at approximately 16 percent. The rate of new lung cancer cases in women has doubled over the last 35 years,” the ALA reported.  “Despite the startling statistics, most women do not consider lung cancer to be a serious health threat and are not aware of the alarming facts.”

The ALA hopes that the illuminations during Women’s Lung Health Week will raise awareness about lung cancer. The goal is to encourage women to learn more about lung cancer and to explore ways of protecting their lung health.

The LUNG FORCE website offers many ways to get involved and learn more about the disease including annual studies, story submissions, treatment tools, fundraiser walk sign-ups, and merchandise.  Facebook and Twitter users can follow the Zakim Bridge’s lead and join the Turquoise Takeover by tinting their profile pictures for the cause.

It seems only fitting that Boston, now a cancer research hub with the Dana-Farber cancer Institute and affiliates Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, along with Beth Israel, Mass General, and more would participate in the Turquoise Takeover.  The designated landmark, the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, is not only the widest cable-stayed bridge in the world, at 1,432 feet across, it is also the first ‘hybrid’ cable-stayed bridge in the United States. The Zakim uses both steel and concrete to reinforce its frame, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation website.

The new lighting system installed December of 2013, has provided a unique supplement of support for the fight against cancer and other causes.

“[It] has made it possible for us to illuminate the Zakim in many different colors for various causes and to raise awareness,” said Deputy Communications Director Sara Lavoie. “We light the bridge for various causes multiple times each month.  We lit the bridge purple last weekend for the Mother’s Day Walk for Peace that is held annually in Boston.  We have lit the bridge for the marathon, other sporting events and other health and safety causes.”

This week’s turquoise tint seems particularly poetic as the bridge’s namesake was an activist and a cancer patient himself.

“As the executive director of the New England region of the Anti-Defamation League, he fought tirelessly to put an end to prejudice, civil rights violations, anti-Semitism, racism and bigotry of all kinds,” the charity’s website chronicled.

In 1995 Zakim was diagnosed with a rare bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma. This drove him and his friends and supporters to create The Lenny Zakim Fund: a philanthropic organization that would transform his vision of social justice into an enduring legacy.

Other participating Northeast landmarks include The Massachusetts State House, Niagara Falls, The Bennington Battle Monument, Albany’s Times Union Center, The Rhode Island State House, and Burlington’s Flying Monkeys, according to the ALA press release. The Lung Force announcement reports that over 90 landmarks, 50 government officials, and presenting sponsor CVS will be involved in the inaugural Turn Turquoise campaign.

Photo courtesy Avery Robertson, staff photographer