Shona's Tribe

We dedicate this charity event to our beloved sister-friend, Shona Donegan McCarther.  

Shona was born February 1, 1966, and passed away at the age of 58 on January 8, 2025, after battling pancreatic cancer for the last three years of her life.  We called ourselves Warriors for Shona.  She called us her Tribe.

We are participating in Purple Stride 2025 to raise money and make a generous contribution to the treatment, cure, and prevention of this terrible disease.  

Please join our team, Shona's Tribe,  and come out in all your purple gear on Saturday, April 26, to walk, run, or cheer us on. If you can’t make it on that day, we ask you to please make a donation as a way to show your support and support the critical research going on behind the scenes to fight this terrible illness. 

Pancreatic cancer is the most deadly and difficult to defeat cancer in the world. As recently as this year, pancreatic cancer only had a five-year survival rate of 13%. By the time its symptoms appear, the cancer has often already spread to surrounding areas, making it impossible for doctors to cure and the survival rate for patients a matter of months at most after their diagnosis to live. 

Your support directly funds PanCAN’s revolutionary Early Detection Initiative.  There is significant research showing a correlation between recent-onset diabetes in people over 50 and pancreatic cancer diagnoses, making a fierce push for imaging during this onset. Scientists and researchers at PanCAN are passionately searching for any clue that could signal pancreatic cancer development before symptoms emerge. By the time symptoms are evident, it’s far too late for any life-saving action to be taken. 

We walk in honor of Shona.