Help me to Know It. Fight It. End It.

This blog has fallen to the wayside what with moving, the holidays, HAVING A BABY, settling in our house, and returning to work. I hope to get back into it as I think we are finally finding our groove but I'm going to skip all the updates for now because this is WAY more important.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I owned an iPhone, iPhone is made by Apple, Steve Jobs was the CEO of Apple, and Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer.

This was my six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon relationship with pancreatic cancer.  Distant. Removed. Little did I or anyone else in my family know in late January 2012 we were about to become really familiar with this scary, deadly, and usually silent form of cancer.

I knew my Dad hadn’t been feeling well over the holidays. He complained of some back pain and of fatigue but chalked it up to being worn down and a probable kidney stone.  My Mom called late one night and said she was taking Dad to the Emergency Room because he was having a lot of back pain related to the kidney stone they thought he had. I woke up in a panic in the middle of the night. I knew something was very wrong. When my Dad called me in the morning he told me that they found cancer in his liver. Lots and lots of cancer. The next few days were a whirlwind of tests, hospitalizations, biopsies, more tests, surgeries, and even more tests. They determined Dad had stage IV pancreatic cancer. It had spread from the pancreas to the lymph nodes and had run rampant in his liver. His blood work for pancreatic cancer markers was so high it was unmeasurable. They offered little hope, less than a  year with chemotherapy, but they offered to help us fight.

So it began. Chemotherapy three days a week, every other week for months on end. With each month the tumors shrank and his blood markers went down. In July of 2012 he reached the maximum number of chemotherapy treatments they recommend and went on a break... but his progress continued. The tumors were gone by fall and his blood markers were in the “normal” range.

It’s been over TWO years since we started this fight. Since then Dad has ran a half marathon, seen his first grandchild’s birth, been awarded with 25 years of service at his job, celebrated his 30^th wedding anniversary, and much more. Help us spread the good news that hope is an option for those with pancreatic cancer. Help us to reach more milestones. Help us Know it. Fight It. End It.  

(Last year at PurpleStrides)

I'm leading a team of friends and family at PurpleStride Washington DC on June 14th at Freedom Plaza. Please consider joining our team by visiting our website at http://purplestride.kintera.org/dc/purpleout (use code EarlyReg2014 for $10 off your registration) or making a donation to my personal page at http://purplestride.kintera.org/dc/brookepowell.