I am walking in memory of my mother, Betty Brooks, who died from pancreatic cancer in 1997 and her brother, my Uncle Jon Margolis, who also died from pancreatic cancer in 2008. In addition, I’d like to honor my friend and high school classmate, Caroline Kaufer, who died of pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer in 2005.  

In 2023, I lost my uncle Barry Brooks just shy of his 90th birthday.  It was also the 26th anniversary of my mom passing away from this horrible disease.

I’d also like to honor the Meyer family. I had the pleasure of coaching Cam Meyer for 2 seasons of Little League Baseball. During the 2nd season, Cam lost his mom to Cancer in 2009 after having lost his younger brother Christian to a brain tumor. His dad’s mom (Lucille) and 2 uncles (Richard and Verlin) all died of pancreatic cancer. Because of their history, Doug and his sister Judy went for early detection tests and both were diagnosed with forms of cancer (Doug = GI cancer in liver and Judy pancreatic cancer). Because of the early detection, they are both making good progress.

Some others I am honoring who died of or are struggling with Pancreatic Cancer:

Newton and WW Connections:

·         David Stricker’s dad, mom (Peggy), uncle, and first cousin

·         Michael Garfinkle’s grandparents / family (Nat Garfinkle, Saul Garfinkle, Ellen Friedlander)

·         Doug Haslam's dad (Kenneth Haslam)

·         Rebecca McLeod-Barnett's mom (Dorothy B. McLeod) 

·         Peter Casler's sister (Karen Horton) 

·         Beth Clingman's dad (Morris Sabowitz, Oct 1, 1979) 

·         Lisa Ross' brother (Daniel Robert Schulman, Sept 28, 2008) 

·         Marcia Bromfield's brother / Terry Bromfield's husband (Dr. Ed Bromfield, May 10, 2009) 

·         Josh Altschuler’s father-in-law (Kim’s dad – Robert Wolf Oct 13, 2014)

·         Allison Avramovich’s brother-in-law (Surgery scheduled week of Nov 1, 2017)

·         Mindy Blatchford's "sister"/friend (Debbi Jacobs Eckert, May 2, 2016, 5 months after diagnosis)

·         Theresa Ajalat's walking buddy (Sal, 2016)

·         Nancy Wolk's friend (2019); her husband was recently diagnosed and another friend is a survivor since 2014

·         Michael Elias' father (2001)

·         Sheryl Brooks Kennedy's friend Manny Fermin (March 2022).  Sheryl is my sister and also greatly misses Betty, Jon, and Barry

Friend Connections:

·         Drew Weiss’ dad (Dr. Jules H. Weiss)

·         Michael Braunstein’s dad

·         Johan Syderhaud’s dad (Henri Suyderhoud, Dec 2015)

·         Pam Day’s friend Cheryl Wood (Nov 2016, founder of Kickin' PancreASS! team)

·         Jim and Sheila Goldrick's daughter Cheryl O’Hearn (Aug 8, 2018, 5 months after diagnosis)

·         Ellie Paul's mother Olga Harris (July 15, 1989)

PTC Connections:

·         Tom Beudoin’s best friend (Rich Simeone)

·         Rob Driscoll’s mom

·         Cheri Bean’s dad and mother-in-law

·         Scarlett Li (PTC Employee in Shanghai Marketing Operations – diagnosed summer 2011)

·         Honora Lin's best friend's dad (Myron Zaccheo, November 2015 – after 5 year battle) 

·         Dom Genatossio's uncle (Louis Genatossio, June 19, 2013)

·         John Larkin's sister

·         Sherri Johnson's brother-in-law (Rusty Johnson, 2015)

·         Josh Morris' grandfather

·         Jon Bienen's father-in-law (Gordon “Papa Gogo” Phillips, Feb 5, 2012)

·         Steve and Shannon Giordano's uncle (Dec 2016)

·         Erez Azaria's friend (Norman Khan, 2017)

·         Ron Leonard’s brother-in-law (who may not make it to wedding in Oct 2017)

·         Mike Bishop’s uncle (Jerry, 1992)

·         Phil Cognetta’s friend (Jay DiAntonio, 1995 Age 36; Firefighter and founder Milford Youth Center)

·         Tricia Clark’s grandmother (Betty Davis)

·         John Moriaty’s friend (Frank Mahoney)

·         Bill Berutti’s mother-in-law (Jan Sanders, July 2019)

·         Steve and Erica Brusca’s college roommates moms (Rosarie Pollara and Linda Adler)

·         Fabrice Dupasquier’s friend (Nicolas Caulier, Sept 2020 Age 45)

·         Tracey Kroll's mother-in-law (Irene Kroll, Nov 2022 after 2 year battle)

·         Cathy Gabrieli's cousin (2 months after diagnosis)

·         Jeanie Powell's cousin (Robin Herron, May 2023)

·         Steve Scheib’s brother-in-law (Tom, 2019, age 37)

I am walking to raise awareness about this devastating disease and to help fund research to fight this disease that has touched so many lives.

In 2023, I was the leading fund raiser in the Massachusetts. I raised $25,560 total. I've raised over $147,000 since I started in 2011 reaching a new high each year. My team, Imagineers United, raised $41,752 (1st in Massachusetts).  The team has raised over $298,000 since 2011.

Thank you for supporting the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Your efforts will help advance research, support patients and create hope!

To donate to my page, just click "Donate Now" on the right-hand side of this page.

For more stories/photos, go to 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1xUcxL6u8arc052b3dZV25QZms?usp=sharing