Pancreatic Cancer - The Fight Is On And We Need Your Help!

    Every once in a while I will be serious on this blog and I have chosen today as one of those days.  This past June I lost my close friend, Karen Petty to Pancreatic Cancer.  Karen's son Jason was my closest friend growing up and I was at the Petty household on a daily basis.  Karen was like a second mother to me while I was growing up.  Losing Karen was the closest I have come to losing a parent and it really hit home for me.  Karen's passing has inspired me to bring the fight to Pancreatic Cancer in any way I know how.  My first stab at taking on this disease took place on Sept. 25th 2010 in the form of a 200 mile one day solo bicycle ride from Karen's home in West Warwick, RI to her cabin in Thornton, NH.  This ride served a twofold purpose.  It gave me a way to take on Pancreatic Cancer actively and also helped me honor the great life that Karen led.  Also with the help of devoted family and friends we raised almost $8000 for the Lustgarten Foundation from this event.  The Lustgarten Foundation is underwritten by Cablevision, allowing 100% of your donations to go to Pancreatic Cancer research.  I believe the amount raised is testament to how many people truly loved Karen.
     Since the ride I have had a lot of time to reflect and have become more in tune to the Pancreatic Cancer community.  I have found that although raising money for research is extremely important, there is something that I think is even more important to the overall fight against Pancreatic Cancer.  That something is AWARENESS!  I am totally shocked by how few people have mobilized against a disease that happens to be the 4th largest cancer killer in this country.  Yes the 4th largest - with survival rates in the single digits, and very few government dollars to aid in the fight!  This is unacceptable to me.  Something else I've learned since my ride is that Pancreatic Cancer is actually a very slow growing cancer and only becomes lethal in your body after about a 20 year gestation period.  I find this news heartening because in my mind if we can catch this disease in its infancy then I believe we can kill it.  The key to all of this is early detection - which has so far eluded researchers.  The only path to finding a cure is to give these researchers the money they need to continue on with their search.  Raising public awareness of Pancreatic Cancer is the only path to getting the research funding, both Federal and private, needed to make this fight a success.


 I recently joined the Rhode Island Affiliate of The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.  I learned about this group from an event called Purple Light that I was invited to by one of it's members.  I was very impressed by what I saw at the event and also by the fire in the bellies of its volunteers.  I knew this was a group I had to be a part of.  These are fighters that I can stand back to back with in my fight against Pancreatic Cancer.  The Rhode Island affiliate is relatively new and really beginning to pick up speed.  I have taken on the role of Event Coordinator for the Rhode Island affiliate to try to do my part.


     Our next event will be what is called a PurpleStride event.  It is a walk to be held on May 15th, 2011 at Goddard Park in Warwick, RI.  We have made it our goal to bring at least 1000 walkers to this event.  I believe that Rhode Island should be a perfect place to begin a storm of awareness on the subject of Pancreatic Cancer.  We are small, passionate, and smart.  We also do not like to be messed with.  Rhode Islanders are being assaulted every day by this insidious disease and I find it hard to believe that this state full of fighters will continue to take this lying down.  We are here standing by to help you bring the fight to Pancreatic Cancer in your own way.  We all have special talents and it is time to put them to good use.  This event will take all of our talents and resources to make it the big success we need it to be.  On Wednesday, 1/5/11 we are having a purplestride planning meeting from 6:30 to 8:30 at 82 Pierce St in East Greenwich (the public library), and will continue to meet on a monthly basis after that.  Please join us and help squash Pancreatic Cancer into a memory before it takes any more of our friends or family from us.

Sincerely,

Eric Costantino