On November 17, 2016, we are joining with our global counterparts in recognizing World Pancreatic Cancer Day to help raise awareness for the catastrophic disease that is pancreatic cancer.
All around the world, approximately 280,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer are diagnosed each year. It’s now the third biggest cancer killer in the US, yet many people still don’t know anything about it.
Compared to other deadly cancers, such as colon, lung, and breast cancer, pancreatic cancer is seriously underfunded and has been labeled as ‘too-hard-to-deal-with’ for decades. This is reflected in the tragically low survival rates of 3 to 7%. These rates haven’t improved for more than 40 years.
However, we are doing something about this.
Our Griffith Family Foundation is participating in World Pancreatic Cancer Day to generate awareness and understanding among the public, medical community, and government. The resulting investment and interest in the disease will allow more people to be diagnosed in time for surgery – currently the only potential for a cure. However, in the encouraging words of Dr. A. James Moser, we are at the “dawn of the kind of precision medicine needed to beat this terrible disease.”
The Griffith Family Foundation has donated from 2010 to date over $230,000 to the research efforts of Dr. Moser, Co-Director of the Pancreas and Liver Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School.
One of more encouraging developments of Dr. Moser’s research and partnerships is with Berg, a biopharmaceutical company committed to uncovering health solutions through data-driven biological research.
This particular partnership has lead to an initiative called “Project Survival.” According to Niven R. Narain, Co-Founder, President and Chief Technology Officer of Berg:
“This partnership is taking a true precision medicine approach to understand and treat pancreatic cancer. We will employ Berg’s Interrogative Biology™ Platform, which merges biology with technology to match the right patients to the right drugs based on the patient’s responses, and most importantly, to be able to detect this silent disease earlier so that effective treatments can lead to longer survival.”
To celebrate World Pancreatic Cancer Day, Cathy and GFF board members are traveling to The Pancreas and Liver Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to present money they have raised this year for Dr. Moser’s research team and partners. To date, we have donated over $230,000 to Dr. Moser’s research. While we are there, we plan to raise awareness using our Sideline Pancreatic Cancer t-shirts. We are also going to get the opportunity to meet research fellows and see some of the current research and results of Project Survival.
In addition to getting to interact with those involved with Project Survival, The Griffith Family Foundation and the World Pancreatic Cancer Coalition, along with Rep. Bill Shuster, will have a flag flown over the US Capitol Building for the World Pancreatic Cancer Day November 17th, 2016.
It’s amazing to see all the hard work of so many people and organizations coming together to produce real, significant results. More than ever, we’re encouraged to #BelieveAlways that #TogetherWeCan #SidelinePC!
To learn how you can get involved, visit sidelinecancer.com.
#WPCD #WPCC #LetsWinPC
