I am a 7 year pancreatic cancer survivor and this will be my 5th Philadelphia PurpleStride. Team Challenge Accepted has raised ~$100,000 for PANCAN in our first 5-years and I am so thankful to all my family and friends who have helped make this happen!  You are making a difference in the war against pancreatic cancer. We still have more work to do because the 5-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is just 12%..  and I will officially be a 7 year survivor when we run/walk at PurpleStride.

In March of 2017, I was diagnosed with Stage III locally advanced pancreatic cancer (adenocarcinoma). Before my diagnosis I lived a very healthy lifestyle which included running as many miles as I could each week. Learning that I was inoperable was difficult to swallow because I knew surgery was the best possible option to achieve remission. So I began a 6-month treatment journey which included chemotherapy and chemo-radiation in hopes that my tumor would shrink and help me become eligible for the whipple procedure. Over these 6-months, I began to learn just how difficult chemotherapy would be and gained an entirely new perspective around mental toughness. With the loving support of my wife Jen, my two children (Nick and Samantha), my extended family, friends, Delran school/community, and my employer (MasterCard), I received all the support I needed to fight hard every day through treatment... which included running when I felt well to keep up my strength.

I was one of the lucky ones who responded to treatment. I received the news from my surgeon, Dr. Charlie Yeo, that I was now a candidate for surgery. Dr. Yeo believed in me and I believed in  him. The result was nothing short of a miracle. I had a successful whipple procedure in mid October of 2017 and my pathology was CLEAN. I attended my 1st Purple Stride event in November of 2017 just two weeks out from surgery... and I had the honor and privilege of being the guest survivor speaker.

My fight with pancreatic cancer will never end. Recurrence rates remain high and treatment options are limited. Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of all major cancers at just 12%. 

Sitting on the sideline is not an option.  Please join me in the fight today.