In 2007 approximately 37,170 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and almost an equal number will die from it. Cancer of the pancreas is the fourth leading cause of cancer death among men and women in the United States, and has the #1 mortality rate of all cancers (99%). There is no early detection test, treatment is limited, and there is no cure. The average life expectancy after a diagnosis of metastatic pancreatic cancer is just 3 to 6 months.

Despite the especially lethal nature of this disease, the federal government invests less money in pancreatic cancer research than in any other cancer. The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) cancer research budget for 2006 was $4.8 billion. Of this, only an estimated $66.7 million was spent on pancreatic cancer research - a mere 1% of the NCI’s total cancer research budget! Experience in AIDS, breast cancer, and prostate cancer have shown us that bringing both new awareness and new funding can have an enormous impact - that is our goal for pancreatic cancer.

The death of Luciano Pavarotti on Sept. 6, 2007 and the highly publicized courageous battle of Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch have recently brought this dreaded disease into the public eye. Many other familiar faces have died from pancreatic cancer, including: Jack Benny, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Art Fleming, Dizzy Gillespie, Fred Gwynne, Rex Harrison, Fernando Lamas, Michael Landon, Henry Mancini, Marcello Mastroianni, Margaret Mead, Paul Mitchell, Juliet Prowse, Donna Reed, Charles Revson, R.J. Reynolds and Irving Wallace.

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