In 2008, I met John Bradley on a dating website. A 2-year survivor of pancreatic cancer he still had an amazing sense of humor and let me know that that he was not good long-term dating material. His goal was to watch his two young sons, Rae and Ian grow up. Underneath he was trying to understand why he was still alive when the statistics were against him. At that time 76% of individuals diagnosed died in the first year, most in the first three to six months and the 5-year survival rate was only 5%. He had spent two years recovering, trying to live his best life, to make every moment count because he knew the odds were stacked against him. In one of our early conversations, he talked about researching the disease and finding very, very limited resources. Through that research he found the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) and felt that maybe he should talk to them about how he could help.

Two years later he had convinced PanCAN that Boise should become an Affiliate. John and I worked hard to bring together volunteers to help spread awareness of the disease and the organization. In 2011 we held our first PurpleStride Boise. The first year we didn’t even have a name for our team but by year two we were Team PurpleCure. John’s pancreatic cancer returned and we lost him in 2014 as an 8 ½ -year survivor (he turned out to be good long-term dating material after all).

Our team has continued to educate, to walk, and to fundraise in every PurpleStride since that first event. Today the 5-year survival rate is now at 12%. By supporting our fundraising efforts, you provide resource materials free of charge to hospitals and cancer centers, help to fund researchers so they can continue their critical work, provide free one-on-one support from Patent Services to survivors and their families and improve patient outcomes.

Please join or donate to team PurpleCure today! You can walk with us in person or join us anywhere as a virtual Strider. We look forward to seeing you!