Louisianans came from near and far to raise money and awareness for the cancer recently ranked as the third deadliest cancer in the U.S.
November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month, and supporters of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) joined together with PanCAN for the 2016 PurpleStride event.
“We raise money to be able to fund research and so that people in the future don’t have such a sad outcome because the survival rate is only 8 percent right now,” Bertha Belanger said.
According to the American Cancer Society, about 53,000 people will be diagnosed in the US in 2016, but only about 11,000 will survive.
Belanger is a four-year survivor of pancreatic cancer. Her diagnosis came after nine days of testing in the hospital.
“It’s very hard to detect. Apparently mine was caught pretty early,” Belanger said.
Belanger is one of the lucky ones. Most pancreatic cancer diagnoses occur in the later stages, with little to no hope of survival. This is due to the fact that there only mild symptoms in the early stages that are usually misdiagnosed as other illnesses or ignored.
Along with supporters and family members, people who are still fighting the disease came as well. One such pancreatic cancer fighter is Janie Deshotels’ daughter Julie.
“My daughter, Julie Jardell was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago, and we’re here to support her,” Deshotels said.
Deshotels says that when Julie was diagnosed, it was basically a death sentence.
“She’s been living for two years with pancreatic cancer, and she’s doing well now,” Deshotels said.
In 2016, pancreatic cancer rose above breast cancer for the number of deaths. The main goal for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) is to double the survival rate by the year 2020. People involved in PanCAN hope events like this one help in other ways as well.
“To have a community that’ll be informed and can help us get the word out to Wage Hope,” Belanger said.
When the event came to a close, PurpleStride raised $79,631 for pancreatic cancer.
PanCAN will continue to fight for a way to detect the disease early and a cure.
