Here we are nearly 27 years after I lost my father, Harry Friedman, to pancreatic cancer and the 5-year survival rate is 13%.

This horrific disease has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers. The disease robbed me of my father 11 days before the birth of his first grandson, my 26-year-old son, Harry.

I found out I was pregnant with Harry in November 1996 and one week later, my dad became ill. By December, we knew it was pancreatic cancer. There were no good days after that. My dad died on July 3, 1997. His namesake was born July 14, 1997.

Every single day I miss my dad. I support this cause in his memory and in hopes that we can make some progress toward early diagnosis and treatment so nobody has to experience what he did.