This morning I participated in the first annual NYC Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk, part of the Lustgarten Foundation‘s fundraising program in the battle against pancreatic cancer.
It was a frigid morning in NYC but the crowd of roughly 1,400 people was eager and ready to go. It seemed that everyone participating had lost or is losing someone to pancreatic cancer. From what I understand we collectively raised approximately $330,000 today. Thanks to my friends I was able to raise $590 for this unquestionably worthy cause. And 100% of that is going toward pancreatic cancer research thanks to underwriting of the event from Cablevision.
Why is this so important to me? Because my mom passed away in August of 2008 seven months after being diagnosed with panceatic cancer. My papaw died in 1985 of the same disease. Both suffered immeasurably and it was the most painful experience I have ever been through in my life. My family and I were confused, upset, angry but determined to see my mom through this (and my papaw too, though I was much younger and didn’t fully understand the situation). Today we are stronger and more unified than before. If this disease was going to take our loved ones away we would fight back by making our living bonds stronger!
The frightening thing is that John Hopkin’s University has found that relatives of patients with pancreatic cancer have an increased risk for developing pancreatic cancer themselves, and the National Familial Pancreas Cancer Registry now contains over 250 families in which two or more family members have had pancreatic cancer. I lost my mom and papaw to this disease and I refuse to see anyone else in my family become a victim.
I joined forces with The Lustgarten Foundation because they are the nation’s largest private supporter of pancreatic cancer research. In spite of being the nation’s fourth leading cancer killer, pancreatic cancer receives only 2% of Federal research funding. Simply stated, more money is urgently needed to help researchers identify better treatments and a cure for this disease.
I hope you’ll take a minute to click on the link below and make a contribution to this cause, no matter the size. If 100 people gave $10 each that’s $1000 more dollars that will help. If 1 million people each gave $1 just imagine what could be done!
Tommy Karr 