PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM BERNIE FRIEDMAN 

My Dear Friends,

It is with a very heavy heart that we embark on the 2025 PANCAN PURPLE STRIDE journey. This year’s journey is without our beloved Marta. Marta left us just a few weeks after the 2024 Purple Stride on June 7.  Marta was the warrior of all warriors. She battled ferociously for six years and two months. Marta’s battle was epic!  She never cried or complained while enduring years of highly toxic chemo cocktails, many tough surgeries, radiation and nuclear medicine,  months in hospitals and emergency rooms,  and almost a year in the Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocyte Immunotherapy Clinical Trial. Marta’s body was ravaged, but her spirit and love of life shined bright!

We were blessed with the smartest and most empathetic doctors in the world at Memorial Cancer Institute, Memorial Sloane Kettering, Sylvester Cancer Institute, and the National Institute of Health. Throughout the battle, we traveled the world on six big trips and spent incredible time with family and friends. Marta taught us and preached that life is precious, and we must live and love life to the fullest every single day. Most of all, Marta bonded with grandson Charlie for three amazing years. We have hundreds of the most touching photos and videos of Mimi (Marta) adoring and showering grandson Charlie with unconditional love. 

Sadly, there is no cure for metastatic stage IV pancreatic cancer. We have broken many barriers with better treatment, and warriors like Marta are living longer. While many other cancers have cures or treatments that lead to long-term remission, a cure for hard-to-treat cancers like Pancreatic is still elusive.

So much more needs to be done!

Please answer the call for this year’s Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, PURPLE STRIDE, on April 26, 2025, at Burt Aaronson South County Regional Park, Boca Raton, FL. Click the links to Join Our Team and Donate today!!!

Thank you for your love and support. 

Sincerely,

Bernie Friedman, Geraldine Stern, Elana, Jeff and Charlie Polashuk, Lyle Stern, Beth Bloom, and all our family and friends