Finding a cure, providing hope

I'll be up front with the purpose of this post -- it's an unabashed and somewhat self-serving call for monetary support of pancreatic cancer research at UCSF. In December, 2007, I became one of more than 30,000 Americans diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that year. Like most, the diagnosis came only after the cancer had spread to lymph nodes and other organs; it was already at stage IV and inoperable. The only treatment options were no treatment other than palliative care for the 3-4 months I could have expected to live, or a limited number of chemotherapy alternatives. Given the aggressive nature of pancreatic cancer, I sought an aggressive approach to its treatment and found that at UCSF. I entered a clinical trial directed by Dr. Margaret Tempero that combined two therapeutic agents, one a drug approved by the FDA for treatment of pancreatic cancer and a second that has proven to work in other cancers. I began treatment two days after Christmas and, almost nine months later, continue to live with my disease, with reduced tumor activity and no significant changes in tumor sizes; there has been no evidence of any further spread of the disease. So, I count myself very fortunate, but still wonder how long I'll be able to maintain my present condition. I've already reduced my chemo schedule somewhat due to the increasing toxicity of one of the drugs; I've redefined what normal means for me. What I and those other 30,000 plus people need are more effective therapies, preferably those that attack tumor cells specifically and would hopefully eliminate the tumors altogether.

What will it take to find and develop those therapies? If research and development of effective treatments of breast and prostate cancers are used as successful models, the answer lies in funding. The ideas are there. Increasing scientific evidence and new technologies are pointing toward solutions, including those being developed by researchers at UCSF. Their efforts, though, are hampered by a lack of funding. One would hope that the federal government would take a lead role in funding cancer research -- imagine if the money spent on waging wars were re-directed to the development of treatments of diseases that kill tens of thousands more Americans annually than Iraqis have. But that has not happened to the degree necessary and the result is that researchers need to seek sources of private and corporate funding. That's where you come in.

There is promising work being done regarding pancreatic cancer at UCSF, but it can only progress with continued financial support. If you are able to donate, you can do so by sending checks to: UCSF Pancreas Cancer Research Fund, Box 0248, San Francisco, CA 94143-0248. If you are able to contribute a substantial sum, or would be able to become a corporate sponsor, please contact Elizabeth Dito, Dr. Tempero's assistant, and she can put you in touch with the appropriate persons at UCSF's foundation (ditoe@medicine.ucsf.edu).

I'd like to be able to live long enough to see the development of treatments that will offer me and thousands of others continued hope for a longer life. The faster those treatments become available, the better. Please do what you can to make that happen.

Peace,

Don