Hey, there!

My family and I are taking steps to end pancreatic cancer at the PanCAN PurpleStride event on Saturday April 27th, 2024 in honor of my dad who passed away from this cancer 3.5 years ago . It's particularly meaningful to me that the event coincides around the time of his birthday at the end of April every year.

My dad, Clay Morrow, was a healthy 59 year old man when he was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. His only symptom was a few weeks of stomach pains. We were shocked - how could this happen him... He ran marathons, he ran, swam, biked, or hiked every single day.  My dad had his own law firm in downtown Pittsburgh, taught as an adjunct professor at Duquesne University, and most recently had been elected Adams Twp Supervisor. He was excited to be elected to this position and help the town of Mars, PA grow in a sustainable way in sync with the surrounding environment. 

In addition, he somehow managed to raise myself and my 3 brothers with lots of help from my mom of course. He worked hard for his family and left a different piece of himself with each of his kids. He could have been a lawyer for a big corporation but instead chose to fight for the ”little guy” by specializing his practice around consumer protection law. Sometimes he was a pain in the ass because he was bossy and impatient... but he deserved to have more time.

When he was diagnosed in May of 2020, the doctors gave him a year to live at best and that was with rigorous rounds of chemotherapy. This is the only option for almost all pancreatic cancer patients. About 95% of people with pancreatic cancer will die from it. It's so lethal because during the early stages, when the tumor would be most treatable, there are usually no symptoms. So patients are diagnosed when it is a stage 4 cancer meaning it has already metastasized to other organs in the body making it nearly impossible to cure. 

He passed away in the hospital on Labor Day September 7th 2020. Sometimes I wonder what killed him faster - the cancer or the chemo. It was devastating to see how quickly this disease progressed and how the side effects of the chemotherapy drugs weaken his body. He tried so hard those 3.5 months to do as much as possible. My dad stopped working, spent as much time as he could with friends and family, took multiple trips, and tried to get the finances and funeral plans in order for my mom. 

Can you imagine knowing you're going to die? This is the sad fate for victims of this cancer. Early cancer screening methods do not exist for this disease and more research needs to be done to bring new treatment options available to patients. The PanCAN PurpleStride event takes place across the country tomorrow morning and raises money to fund vital research so less people have to suffer through this horrible disease. 

Here's where you come in! I've set an ambitious fundraising goal  because the more money I raise, the bigger impact we make! I would appreciate a gift of any size to help me get there. 

Thank you for your support!

Megan and the rest of the Morrow family