My brother, Tommy Nickolich, was 21 years old and attending West Virginia University studying to be a civil engineer when his stomach and back pain forced him to go to a doctor. It was 1983 and we did not know of anyone else that had Pancreatic Cancer and organizations such as PanCan were over a decade from being founded.  Tommy was misdiagnosed twice before a consult by a trusted GI doc in our hometown of Fairmont, WV resulted in my parents being told to "get him somewhere good";  off to the Cleveland Clinic we went.  He was admitted on Good Friday and had his exploratory surgery on Easter Monday resulting in the dreadful diagnosis.  Despite undergoing chemotherapy, at some point we learned that nothing more could be done and Tommy was transported home by helicopter.  He passed away in mid-July just 3 months after being diagnosed.

Won't you join me to walk on Saturday, April 27th?  If you can't walk with us in Charlotte, you are welcome to walk wherever you live and still be part of our team.  If you are unable to join us won't you please consider helping us raise awareness and funds to support research to find a cure so that other families will not to go through what our family and so many other Purple Strider's have gone through.