SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- In Penny Connolly's hands is a check for $10,000, to her left and right are people who are going to use that money to try and find a cure for the disease that killed her husband.
"It's incredibly overwhelming, it's very, very overwhelming. To see these gentlemen actually going to be working on it is incredible. I've been waiting for it for a very long time," said Connolly.
Connolly's husband Michael died of lung cancer in 2002. He was a non-smoker and was just 39-years-old.
"Penny said to me, 'What can I do, what can I do?' I want to help out so this doesn't happen to other people and other families in the future," Michael Connolly's former doctor, Leslie Kohman.
Last summer we introduced you to a Binghamton family who raised $500,000 to fight lung cancer. We caught up with the family once again, this time at Upstate Medical University where doctors received a check for research. Our Ryan Dean has the story of a woman who is hoping her husband's legacy lives on in cancer survivors.
In 2006, Connolly and her son Ryan started an endowment in her husband's name for lung cancer research. They've raised over half a million dollars and this check is the first of what they say will be many for research at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.
"We're hoping we will be able to help other people where they don't have to go through what we did," said Connolly.
Lung cancer kills more men and women than any other cancer. With that said, doctors say research for the disease is lagging.
"People believe it is a disease of smoker that is one reason. The other reason is lung cancer is a very aggressive disease," said Upstate Medical University Doctor Chirag Shah.
In this laboratory researchers are going to use the grant money to review tumor biopsies.
"Instead of treating patients with chemotherapy, which is very destructive to the patient's body, what people are trying to do is target the exact cell that causes the tumor," said Upstate Medical University Doctor Sanjay Muhkopadhyay.
Connolly said they chose Upstate Medical University because it's where her husband was treated.
"They were incredible to us, and we will never be able to thank them enough. This is our token to them and it will payoff in the long run," Connolly said.
The $10,000 that the Connolly's donated is being matched by Upstate Medical University's College of Medicine.