Hi, everyone!

This is our team's second year participating in PurplesStride! Woohoo!! We had such an amazing time last year walking along the lakefront with survivors, their supporters, and others who, like us, were walking in memory of a loved one. We chuckled many times thinking of what Chicago fact Judy would point out if she were walking with us. She never missed an opportunity to share her wealth of knowledge of all things city related.

-----

Team Release the Kraken will be walking in memory of my mommy, Judy Spain. Judy was diagnosed with neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer in June of 2020. We were told this was a slow growing and treatable form of pancreatic cancer (think Steve Jobs who would probably still be alive if he had treatment, but I digress) - we were told it wasn't the aggressive and deadly type that we commonly hear about. The doctors had hope, so we had hope. Unfortunately, insurance denied treatments and we learned that only 4 months after diagnosis, the cancer rapidly progressed. Her oncologist was a bit surprised, as that level of progression only happens to about 10% of people with PNETs. It was a total gut punch knowing that her prognosis ended up being worse than that of the aggressive adenocarcinoma type tumors. But one thing was clear; there is just not enough funding for research and still a lack of knowledge with pancreatic cancer. That is why I want to participate in this fundraiser. Even the "better" kind of pancreatic cancer was deadly for us. While we did not get the chance to use the resources offered by PanCAN, I know people who have and who have been involved with them, and it is an incredible organization!

Better research, screening, understanding and treatment options are needed so that the next person diagnosed survives. So that when someone is told they have time, they really do have time. The 5 year survival rate for pancan was recently bumped up to 12%, which is fantastic, but nowhere near good enough! Thanks to many family members and friends, we crushed our goal last year. We hope you can help us do it again this year.

Anyone is welcome to walk with our team! The walk will be on Saturday, April 29th near Soldier Field. Timing TBD. If you would like to walk with us, please reach out to Captain Keeley (or Jack Sparrow, if you will). 

-----

Pancreatic cancer does not stop or slow down, and neither do we!

We’re going to help make progress, with your support.

Our team is participating in PanCAN’s PurpleStride, a year-round national movement that funds lifechanging programs and services for pancreatic cancer patients and their families.

Every dollar you give means more patients can benefit from PanCAN’s free, one-on-one support, personalized information, service and resources that can make a real difference in their lives. 

Please join our team as a participant, or make a gift of any size to get us one step closer to our fundraising goal and improving more patients’ lives. You can donate to a team member or make a general donation to the team.

Patients and families need us now more than ever.

Thank you for your support.