What do Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, actor Patrick Swayze, and iCEO Steve Jobs all have in common?
Unfortunately, they are all joined by our first Silent Killer—pancreatic cancer.
The Pancreas: What is it?
The pancreas is a gland that has many functions for digestion and regulation of blood sugar.
Ever heard of a little thing called insulin? This is where you get it.
Want to digest your food? You need enzymes to do that, and your pancreas provides some important ones.
For being so important, it seems to me that most don’t quite have an appreciation for it. Not quite like Al.
See?
So what qualifies Pancreatic Cancer as a “Silent Killer”?
1. When the initial tumor develops, it often goes unnoticed.
By the time it is discovered, prognosis is usually poor. According to the National Cancer Institute and statistics covering the years 2002-2008, less than 6% of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer survived for 5 years. It’s not usually because the tumor grows so quickly once it is discovered—it’s because we don’t find it until it’s already in advanced stages.
2. We aren’t really sure what causes it.
Some risk factors include smoking, chronic pancreas inflammation, diabetes, occupational hazards, and, in a few cases, genetics. But, probably because we don’t find it until it’s extremely advanced, we still aren’t sure exactly why it happens. This also means that, unfortunately, we can’t prevent it if we don’t know what causes it.
3. It doesn’t occur in a large population.
In the USA in 2012, it is estimated that 43,920 will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It is also projected that 37,390 will die as a result of pancreatic cancer. That being said, there isn’t going to be a large push to pour a ton of money into new technology to treat pancreatic cancer or develop earlier detection protocols if only a relatively small amount of the U.S. population (1.47%) is at risk. In addition, if few people have it, then usually few people know about it…and that usually means that they wouldn’t know to be concerned with or report relevant symptoms.
Symptoms: So what are they?!
Sometimes there are none (that we are aware of yet). But, occasionally, someone may notice dark urine, clay-colored stools, jaundice, sudden fatigue and weight loss…all which seem pretty vague.
BUT THERE IS HOPE!
From a 15-year-old, nonetheless!!!
(Can’t say I’m not jealous…)
For his science fair project, he decided to develop a dip-stick sensor for mesothlin, a protein that can be found in the blood or urine that indicates this specific cancer before it is even invasive.
Genius.
There are, also, many people who have been affected by this disease in some way and have decided to do something about it.
Below are the sites I used to gather this information, if you are interested in learning more or even getting involved.
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network
National Cancer Institute– (good statistics)
And back to the original question and perhaps the most important:
Is there a reason you wear purple?
Why do YOU wear purple?