Ira Graham, 84, spent Saturday, Aug. 6, cycling 60 miles through Illinois and southern Wisconsin, a feat that would be an accomplishment at any age.

Ira, of Wilmette, participated in Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago’s CowaLUNGa Bike Tour to help raise funds and awareness for lung disease advocacy, education and research. He’s participated in the tour for several years and has long been a supporter of tobacco prevention. The cause became personal when his wife, Helen Baer Graham, was diagnosed with lung cancer 15 years ago.

“My wife went to see the doctor after she had difficulty climbing a hill in San Francisco,” Ira said. “The doctor did a chest X-ray and they later found it had spread to her nodes.”

Ira and Helen remained optimistic through her treatments. They took trips to some of their favorite places in the world and she, being a longtime volunteer at Evanston Hospital, offered encouragement to people she noticed were also struggling with their health. The couple set up scholarship funds at area colleges and Helen continued to paint – her work won commendations in local and regional contests.

Two years after Helen’s diagnosis, she passed away. It wasn’t just her family and friends who were affected; her absence was felt by many in Chicagoland who would miss the “Gingerbread Lady.”

“Every year, my wife would make thousands of cookies to hand out at Christmastime and she became known by that nickname,” Ira said. “When she died, several newspapers ran obituaries about the ‘Gingerbread Lady.’ ”

Ira describes his wife as a “beautiful, respected and intelligent woman.” After having lost someone so special to lung cancer, Ira became an advocate for smoking prevention and cessation programs. As a life insurance salesman, he offered discounts for nonsmokers before it was popular to do so. He was also vocal in his former hometown of Evanston about making all restaurants smoke-free.

Ira stays involved in efforts to extinguish smoking with his son Doug Graham, a board member for Respiratory Health Association. Ira said what he’d most like to see is more funds for lung cancer research, the largest cause of cancer deaths.

“I can’t believe such a leading cause of death is sometimes given so little thought,” he said.

One of his biggest yearly contributions is the energy he puts into CowaLUNGa, a one, two or three day bike tour from Gurnee, Illinois, to Hubertus, Wisconsin. Ira has been the oldest rider for several years but doesn’t plan on quitting any time soon. Just as with all of his past tobacco prevention efforts, he’ll push on until he sees a change has been made.

To support Ira in his fundraising efforts or offer words of encouragement, visit www.lungchicago.org/iragraham.