Pancreatic Cancer Awareness
Pancreatic Cancer Awareness and the Color Purple
Purple is my website's accent color and symbolizes pancreatic cancer awareness. Pancreatic cancer is why I wrote a memoir; it was a promise to my friend. Writing a friendship story through the lens of illness was complicated, as I explain in this interview.
Biography of a Friendship is a memoir meant to help other women, two friends like us, and anyone quietly navigating the pain of watching a loved one face a life-threatening illness. This deeply personal story is for readers seeking understanding, guidance, and comfort when the emotional connection is warped.
My friend needed a cure, but there was no cure. With no symptoms until Stage IV, a pancreatic cancer diagnosis is shattering news. There is still no cure, yet inspiring survival stories keep backing up clinical trials. Research is marching on, but it needs our help to stop its silent, swift progression.
Since my experience with my friend's pancreatic cancer journey, I try to bring attention to PanCAN's PurpleStride—The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Walk/Run to End Pancreatic Cancer in the U.S. - and the Terry Fox Foundation's Marathon of Hope in Canada.
PanCAN's mission is "to create a world in which all patients with pancreatic cancer will thrive."
The Terry Fox Foundation is realizing Terry Fox’s "dream of a world without cancer."
Find out on their websites how clinical trials are at the leading edge of progress, and let them help you navigate the stormy medical and psychological journey of pancreatic cancer.
Unless a life-threatening illness strikes a loved one, we don’t relate to the urgency of finding a cure for pancreatic cancer.
“Work isn't just a job for PanCAN's staff; it's a mission. Having lost too many family members and friends to pancreatic cancer, I'll do anything to further that mission.”
“There can be no reason for me to stop. No matter what pain I suffer, it is nothing compared to the pain of those who have cancer, of those who endure treatment."
"I wish I had known earlier that the persistent stomach pain I experienced prior to my diagnosis was a symptom of pancreatic cancer."