As November gives way to December, the purple ribbons and bracelets signifying that November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month will soon be put away for next year. However, for nearly 37,000 men and women in the United States, there won't be a next November.
Although pancreatic cancer is only ranked as the 4th leading cancer cause of death, the 5 year survival rates reveal a more tragic picture of this disease. To better understand this, it should be compared to the top three cancer killers in the United States.
Lung cancer, ranked number one, causes approximately 160,000 deaths a year with a 5 year survival rate of 14 percent. The second type of cancer to claim the most victims is colon cancer with 53,500 deaths a year. Five year survival rates for these patients fare much better than lung cancer patients with an estimated 65 percent. At number three, the more frequently occurring breast cancer has a mortality figure of approximately 40,000 deaths a year, but sees a 5 year survival rate of 89 percent.
Even with lung cancer's seemingly low number of 14 percent, there is one thing lung, colon and breast cancer patients have more than pancreatic cancer patients.
Hope.
The tragic outcome for pancreatic patients is revealed with the statistics that show the 5 year survival rate is only 5 percent.
That's it. Five percent.
Adding to this tragedy is the fact that 75 percent of all pancreatic cancer patients die within 1 year of being diagnosed. Pancreatic cancer stands alone with the distinction of the highest mortality rate of all the major cancers. According to PanCan.org, the average life expectancy after the cancer metastasizes is just three to six months. Unlike many other forms of cancer, the survival rate for pancreatic cancer has not improved much over the last 40 years.
Despite these odds, pancreatic cancer patients are known for their courage and willingness to fight back. The best example of this was epitomized with subtle bravery by Randy Pausch in his book, The Last Lecture. Pausch, a 46 year-old computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006. Despite this diagnosis, Pausch fought back with chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. In spite of his efforts, the cancer returned in August of 2007. A month later, on September 17, Pausch gave his last lecture entitled: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. A video posted on YouTube shows an audience of more than 400 students and faculty giving him a standing ovation.
That video gave Pausch some notoriety and led to a book deal for The Last Lecture. Taking material from his Sept. 17 lecture, and expanding on it further, Pausch writes for his children and others with lessons that he wants to impart that stress the importance of having fun in everything one does, and living life to the fullest. The book became a New York Time's Best Seller soon after it was published in 2008. Randy Pausch died on July 25th, 2008.
Despite it's reputation as The Deadliest Cancer, there is hope on the horizon for pancreatic cancer, after all, the only place it can go is up. The horizon is revealed under the Sunlight of new research and new medicines in development.
A study published on October 27, 2010 in the scientific journal Nature showed for the first time that pancreatic tumors develop much more slowly and less aggressively than previously thought. This is important due to the fact that pancreatic cancer symptoms are asymptomatic, or undetectable, in the early stages. Often, it is only when it has developed in the late stages or metastasized, that a pancreatic cancer diagnosis can be made. This finding places more importance and hope on developing earlier detection methods as the key to survival. Among the new drugs being developed is a pancreatic cancer vaccine being developed at John Hopkins University. The vaccine apparently stopped a pancreatic tumor growing in one patient, but researchers are stressing that a new clinic trial is only in the early stages.
Jason L Morrow is the founder and editor of OmniMedicalSearch.com [http://www.omnimedicalsearch.com] where you can learn more about the symptoms of pancreatic cancer [http://www.omnimedicalsearch.com/conditions-diseases/pancreatic-cancer-symptoms.html].
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