Really strange..

[Mackey Mouse]

Last night I was looking around the internet and found a site via looking up Michael Landon, he died of Pancreatic cancer and put up a heckuva fight if I remember correctly..

Anyway, there was a list of famous people who have passed on from Pancreatic and I was shocked who was who.....Then I thought to myself, there must be a common denominator for all these famous people... just the famous ones....smoking, inherited, drinking....I cannot believe that they cannot somehow make a connection. Tom tells me that Cancer keeps changing so once they think they have found the denominator it mutates into something else.. Donna Reed, Joan Crawford, Jack Benny...Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Magnani, and the list goes on and on.....

 

[pjb_hockey_mom]

Hi Marsha,

Yeah, that is really strange....bottom line is they haven't done enough reasearch on it - I found this on one of the websites Pancreatic cancer, the nation's 4th leading cancer killer, ranks just 17th in research funding .

Now my father wasn't a heavy drinker and never smoked which are supposedly two of the major causes. Now his father had pancreatic cancer but they say there is no proven link to it being passed on.

Sigh....

 

[Mackey Mouse]

OK...here's the thing...

I have heard it can run in families and Tom is going to have genetic counseling and blood work to see if he has the gene....if so my daughters and future grandchildren will have to be watched closely.

Also.. I signed Tom up to participate in research at Johns Hopkins.....well we have not officially started with it, but the papers are here and we will look them over with a friend who is studying at Johns Hopkins right now. I found it looking for information about Michael Landon and came across a letter from his son, found here: http://pathology2.jhu.edu/pancreas/landon.htm

Here is the registry: http://pathology2.jhu.edu/pancreas/nfptr.cfm

 

[pjb_hockey_mom]

Hmmmm, thanks for that link.....I've copied it and will e-mail it to my father suggesting we look into it.

His doctor is also conducting research on the cancer, I'm going to have him talk to her about this as well.

Keep me posted on how you make out and I'll do the same...

 

[Shugardrawers]

OK...here's the thing...

I have heard it can run in families and Tom is going to have genetic counseling and blood work to see if he has the gene....if so my daughters and future grandchildren will have to be watched closely.

Also.. I signed Tom up to participate in research at Johns Hopkins.....well we have not officially started with it, but the papers are here and we will look them over with a friend who is studying at Johns Hopkins right now. I found it looking for information about Michael Landon and came across a letter from his son, found here: http://pathology2.jhu.edu/pancreas/landon.htm

Here is the registry: http://pathology2.jhu.edu/pancreas/nfptr.cfm

I'm so glad to hear he's participating in research! Medical testing saved my life. It makes me feel good to know that if nothing else, my help eventually will save millions of women.

I had no idea pancreatic cancer was linked to smoking. Most everyone in my family does or has smoked. I only finally quit 9 months ago and Dh is well on his way to finally quitting. Yet another good reason.

 

[safetymom]

I am also glad to hear he will be participating in research. Wonderful things can happen through research.

 

[dcgrumpy]

Jimmy Carter lost both parents, both sister's and his brother to pancreatic cancer. I know I've read that it's not inherited, but tht seems like a strange coincidence.

My mother was a heavy smoker. I've also read that there might be a link to coffee and she drank coffee 24 hours a day. She wasn't a heavy drinker. My paternal great-grandfather had pancreatic cancer but I'm not sure if he smoked or drank a lot.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

I will keep you informed as they are suppose to meet up with him at infusion, one can hope that they follow through on this, as I would not want to be them when I get on the phone if they do not......I am not accepting medical care that is substandard especially when insurance covers so much and you are responsible for the rest......and so I will be his advocate and his children's advocate.