My battle against cancer is now in its fourth year and I am grateful for the chance to keep fighting. In August 2020 I was diagnosed with Stage 3 pancreatic cancer. Two weeks later I underwent the complex Whipple surgery to remove the tumor, followed by six months of chemotherapy. After one year of being in remission, the cancer had metastasized, and I needed to resume chemotherapy in early 2022. The chemo cocktail managed to keep the cancer “seeds” circulating in my system from germinating into a tumor. However, the side effects were brutal, and each session was harder to recover from.

Fortunately, DNA sequencing was performed on the tumor that had been removed during my surgery revealing two cell mutations which allowed the possibility for therapy to be tailored for more specific targeting. In early 2023, I began an immunotherapy regime that is designed to boost the T cells in my white blood cells to help my immune system fight cancer cells which inexplicably had lost the ability to do so on its own. Over the past year my situation has stabilized, not headed towards remission, but not getting worse either. The side effects of immunotherapy are much more tolerable than chemo allowing for a much improved quality of life.

As this form of immunotherapy for treatment of gastrointestinal cancers is still relatively new, my oncologist cannot say as to how long I will benefit from it. I am grateful for the chance to “ride the wave” for as long as I can and hopefully my experience can help form therapy decisions for other people suffering from pancreatic cancer. I have benefited from advances made in cancer therapy and there are many others who need better diagnoses and treatments.

As with so many who are struck by pancreatic cancer, I had no known risk factors like diabetes or heart disease, and genetic testing showed it was not hereditary. Pancreatic cancer patients are often young and in the prime of their lives. More than 65,000 people will be newly diagnosed this year in the US impacting thousands of families. It’s the most aggressive of the major cancers as evidenced by the five-year survival rate of just 13%, and the least funded.

I am again participating in the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) Purple Stride Silicon Valley on April 27, 2024 to help bring funding and awareness to combat this disease and to honor Lewis Zavis, my wonderful father-in-law, who died from pancreatic cancer in 2004. Elaine and I want to support PanCAN’s work to accelerate progress and improve outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients and we’d like you to join us. Our goal is to raise $125,000 for this event. Thank you for all the kind words, prayers, and encouragement so many of you have given me in this journey. And many thanks for your donations over the last two years to this terrific organization.