Several years ago (I don't remember exactly when) I heard a rumor that Aretha Franklin had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
On Thursday, sadly, that rumor proved itself correct (I will do a musical tribute post to Aretha Franklin on Monday).
Pancreatic cancer is personal for me. It killed an aunt, an uncle and a
great aunt (both sides of my family have been touched). Someone I walked with at lunch for years lost her brother in law to it. A former boss lost her sister to
it. And on and on.
Pancreatic cancer is personal
to the purveyor of the best fried fish in the universe, too.
Back in November of 2009, the food truck of a restaurant located in upstate New York, Doug's Fish Fry, did a month of pancreatic cancer fundraisers. A portion of proceeds were donated to PANCAN.
I wrote most of the following post in November of 2009. To me, it is shameful that pancreatic cancer remains one of the most deadly, if not most deadly, of cancers. It's hard to detect early, which would be a key to early treatment.
One day pancreatic cancer will be as easy to diagnose as breast cancer,
or cervical cancer. We can always dream. And pray. At one of the fundraisers back in 2009, we saw an
information plaque which gave various facts about pancreatic cancer.
One of them was pretty sobering: it said that the state of pancreatic
cancer research is approximately where breast cancer research was in the
1930's.
Well, we who were alive in the 1970's know how much the fight against breast cancer has advanced since then.
Circa 1960's, if a woman was suspected of having breast cancer, she went
under the knife. Many times they did something called a frozen section
biopsy while the woman was under. If this biopsy was positive for
cancer, the mastectomy was done then and there. No counseling, no
opportunity for the woman to make a treatment decision, no warning, no
nothing. The woman woke up minus a breast. Who cared about her
feelings?
How grateful we women (and men, as men get breast cancer, too - did you know that?) should be for the amount of progress made since then.
Now it is time to apply that same can-do spirit to pancreatic cancer. Why?
1. There was no early detection method for pancreatic cancer (as of 2009, and I believe that is still true).
2. (partially as a result of #1) this is one of the most deadly forms
of cancer there is. We were talking an approximately 4% survival rate
after five years in 2009. Now it's up to 7%, according to the American Cancer Society.
It is not unknown for people to die less than a month after diagnosis.
That is devastating to the family, never mind the person with the
cancer.
3. Not that celebrities should be more important than the rest of us
but do you remember: Michael Landon? Jack Benny? Donna Reed? Rex
Harrison? Joan Crawford? Fred Gwynne? Luciano Pavarotti? (some of
these are more baby boomer icon names). How about Sally Ride? Patrick Swayze? Steve Jobs? Bonnie Franklin? Pernell Roberts? And now, Aretha Franklin?
The sad but true fact is that it is the loss of celebrities (or the famous) that call people to action. Although, as this article points out, there aren't too many "famous" spokepeople for this illness-they don't survive long enough.
If a cause isn't (excuse the expression) "sexy", it doesn't get the money.
Pancreatic cancer certainly doesn't get money for research the way some other cancers do. Not to take away the importance of any cancer, but I believe funding must become more even between types of cancer.
That would be such a wonderful way to honor the memory of the Queen of Soul.
(Written in honor of my aunt Trudy, who died from pancreatic cancer in August of 1974).
Welcome! I hope I bring a spot of calm and happiness into these uncertain times. I blog about flowers, gardening, my photography adventures, the importance of chocolate in a well lived life, or anything else on my mind.
Saturday, August 18, 2018
6 comments:
Thank you for visiting! Your comments mean a lot to me. Due to a temporary situation, your comments may not post for a day or more-I appreciate your patience.I reserve the right to delete comments if they express hate or profanity, are spam, or contain content not suitable to a family blog.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
For a long time, hearing "you have cancer" meant "get your affairs in order and arrange your funeral." They now have effective treatments for so many different forms of it, but it's like a game of whack-a-mole: everytime you knock out one form, another pops up. What is heartening is that they're able to recognize so many forms now, which is the first step to treating them. It's sad that so many people have to die before they know enough to look for a cure, though.
ReplyDeleteOh, my word! I had NO idea! This is truly terrible. Thank you so much for the awakening!
ReplyDeleteCancer is such a terrible disease. They've made such strides, but there's still such a long way to go.
ReplyDeleteIt amazing how far they came on cancer. I believe before my life time they will pretty much have wipe out.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on
Cancer is so terrible, for both the patient and their family. I wish insurance companies (or even the Cancer Society for those with no insurance) would include testing for all cancers before it's too late. Thanks for shedding light on Pancreatic Cancer.
ReplyDeleteI hope they find a cure for this.
ReplyDelete