Friends raise funds for pancreatic cancer research
Family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances gathered the day after Thanksgiving to raise money to fight the disease that took their wife, mother, family member and friend, Renee Rogers.
It had been a year since pancreatic cancer took Rogers, and a group of her closest friends had been working on a way to honor her memory. One of the organizers was local advertising consultant, Mary Anthony.
“Friends of the family have gotten together and we are, in her honor, trying to generate some money for pancreatic cancer research because it’s probably the most deadly cancer but it’s the least studied,” Anthony said.
Anthony said the cancer is very resistant to traditional chemotherapy and, as a result, there have been few inroads in finding a way to combat the disease.
“With pancreatic cancer, the five-year survival rate is only 6 percent. Our goal, what we’re trying to wage hope against, is to increase, to double the survival rate by the year 2020,” Jacquie Comeaux, community representative for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, said.
Renee Rogers’ husband, Denny, said the statistics for pancreatic cancer are grim. “It’s a disease that is unforgiving. Seventy-three percent of the people that are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer don’t make it to the first anniversary of their diagnosis.”
Comeaux said there is no test currently available to detect pancreatic cancer and by the time it is found, it is usually in the late stages and virtually untreatable.
“I got involved because six years ago my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer,” she said. “He survived three months from the day of his diagnosis to his death. I got tired of every time you said pancreatic cancer the first thing everybody said was ‘I’m sorry.’ His oncologist said, ‘I’m sorry.’ He went to his family doctor for another problem, he said, ‘I’m sorry.’ Everything was, I’m sorry.’ Tell friends and family, ‘I’m sorry.’ So, I said it’s time to start advocating and making some noise.”
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network was started in 1999 by three people who had lost loved ones to the disease. The group’s website identifies its mission as creating hope for pancreatic cancer patients through research, support, community outreach and advocacy for a cure.
The fundraiser and 5K run held Nov. 29 and 30 were organized to help make this area aware of the killer. Denny said raising awareness of pancreatic cancer is a tough job.
“People know Patrick Swayze and other people who died of pancreatic cancer. Patrick had an opportunity to fight for a period of time. A lot of people don’t,” Denny said.
When friends came to Rogers shortly after his wife’s death, they said they wanted to do a memorial run to raise money and awareness. But, they also proposed a pre-race fundraiser featuring a silent auction to raise money. Friday night’s auction tables had an eclectic group of almost 50 items from high-end jewelry and trips to a football and jersey signed by Morris Claiborne. There was also an original wall-sized painting of some LSU Tigers by Aly Fletcher up for bids. Twentyfive pairs of sneakers that local personalities had “customized” with original artwork were also available.
After the party and after the race on Saturday in which 143 runners make the 5K run, PanCan received a check for $35,000. It was short of Denny Rogers’ goal for this inaugural year of $50,000.
“Only 2 percent of the federal funds for cancer research are dedicated to pancreatic cancer,” Rogers said. “We just think that it’s not enough. It’s very tough to think there’s almost not enough survival rate for them to put funds in. But we think that survival rate can be increased.”
Increasing the survival rate is among PanCan’s pressing goals. And, a cure is not out of the question, Comeaux said.
“I believe that because of people like Denny with Renee’s Run, getting people involved and out there. People that know about pancreatic cancer and can get behind it and raising more money to help with the research. I definitely have hope that one day we will be on the charts as successful as some of the other cancers are,” she said.
Denny said, “For us, the best way to honor Renee is to try to make a difference for those that are going to be diagnosed from this point forward and those that are currently fighting the battle. We’re looking forward to continuing the fight and helping this organization through our efforts to eradicate this disease.”
–Joe Todaro
