Today marks the start of PanCAN Action Week as pancreatic cancer survivors and advocates work to raise awareness about the world’s deadliest form of cancer, and to raise more federal funds for research. When Beth Day of Urbandale was diagnosed, the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer was only four-percent. Today, it’s ten-percent. While that’s progress, it’s nothing compared to the five-year breast cancer survival rate of 95-percent. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated what researchers can really do when they’re properly motivated — and well funded.
The fast-moving disease is difficult to diagnose because the symptoms can be vague and are often ignored until it’s too late. They include abdominal pain and back pain, changes in stool, yellowing skin, weight loss, appetite loss, and a feeling of being full after only eating a little food.
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