NASHVILLE, Tenn. -
What started as a private Christmas gift has turned into a fundraising tool to help find a cure for lung cancer.
Singer-songwriter Mike Marsh wrote "Speak of Love," for his grandmother Betty Cunio. The song was going to be a Christmas gift for her. Cunio is battling lung cancer. She was diagnosed in 2010.
"It was devastating, especially knowing it was her," he said. "For me finding out the person who raised me essentially has this disease just floored me."
Marsh said he was sitting in his studio in the basement of his east Nashville home when the song came to him.
"I came up with this verse I started talking about things my grandmother did," he said. "I felt this was a way to reach out to her and let her know I am thinking about you."
He continued, "This is something that weighs heavily on me."
According to the American Lung Association, lung cancer is the second most diagnosed form of cancer, yet it's the leading killer among cancers.
Annually more people die from lung cancer than from cancer of breasts, prostate and colon combined.
That is why Marsh wanted the song to be a vehicle to help find a cure for the disease. With his grandmother's blessing he released the song on iTunes and CDbaby.com December 13.
All the money raised from sales will be donated to the National Lung Cancer Partnership. It is a lung cancer advocacy agency made of doctors and researchers.
The agency has agreed to direct all money donated from "Speak of Love" to research.
"It meant so much to me to know it was going straight to the source because every dollar counts in that sense," Marsh said.
Marsh also wants the song to be a way of bringing families who are also dealing with the effects of cancer closer.
"I hope it helps people sit down with the people they love who are going through it and tell them truly how they feel," he said. "Some people don't have the option to pick up a paint brush or a pen or microphone to write song."
Marsh's grandmother adores the song. She wrote a review online.
She gave it five stars and wrote: " I love the song and it's number one in my heart. Everyone thinks you have such a beautiful voice. Love Mema."
