Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Team Hope Events Re-Cap

By Terri Rimmer

With November being Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, one organization has recently published their quarterly report about recent activities raising awareness of the disease.

The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) has several teams across the country that raise funds in various walks and other events throughout the year.

In Colorado TeamHOPE Colorado held the North's Longmont Leap which was a great success in its first year.

"With a little help from mom Kathleen, 12-year-old Koby McInnis raised over $700 by coordinating a bake sale for PanCAN on June 8th," reports the newsletter.

In Georgia, TeamHOPE Savannah organized Purple Day and a bake sale, held at Memorial Health University Medical Center on June 7. (Source: PanCAN).

Over in Illinois, TeamHOPE Illinois-North participated in Six Flags Great America's Coasters for a Cause event on May 19th. (Source: Pancan.org).

On June 16th, TeamHOPE Boston held the first ever Framingham 5K Road Race and in Minneapolis, Minnesota a benefit screening of the movie "The Eyes of Scott Robbins" was held June 7.

In Pennsylvania the Third Annual Dale Pokorney 5K Walk/Run was held on June 2nd in Hermitage.

"Current protocols for the treatment of pancreatic cancer are not as effective as we desire," said Dr. Pinku Mukherjee of the Mayo Clinic in a PanCAN newsletter.

"We propose to use a novel technology called functional alleotyping to investigate those changes in gene expression that accompany the formation and spread of pancreatic cancer," Dr. Christine Iacobuzio-Donahue of Johns Hopkins University wrote in the newsletter.

A study at the University of California in San Francisco is focused on the underlying mechanisms of pancreatic cancer which researchers believe can potentially have important implications for pancreatic cancer therapy.

Pancreatic cancer survivor Jay's disease was found purely by chance, he reports. Less than a week later he was referred to what he calls "an outstanding" pancreatic surgeon.

"PanCAN offers the supportive services towards such ends," Jay wrote.
TeamHOPE Walk Cape Cod will take place in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts Oct. 27th.

For more information, email pancanevents@comcast.net.

source:www.associatedcontent.com