Knowledge, Understanding and Awareness of Pancreatic Cancer

Awareness is Vital To Fighting Pancreatic Cancer

During 2015 it is estimated that about 49,000 will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the US. Almost 40,000 will die. Of those diagnosed, over 75% will lose the battle within a year or less. On average, only 6% will survive 5-years. Pancreatic cancer is the most lethal of all tumor-type cancers. It is almost always detected at late stages when it is least treatable. There is no easy method of testing for early detection and symptoms are vague and not prominently significant until pancreatic cancer reaches advanced stages.

Keen awareness, vigilance, and diligence are crucial to improving the chances of early detection. Adapting a healthy lifestyle that modifies controllable risk factors will reduce the chances of getting this brutal disease.

About 1 in 70 people will get pancreatic cancer in their lifetime. The median detection age is about 71. But the incidence rate at a younger age is increasing. Keep this important fact at the forefront. Studies show that it takes 10-11 years for the first mutated cancer cell to develop and another 7-10 years for cancerous cells to replicate to form a tumor the size of a plum. As a pancreatic cancer tumor grows, the chances of metastasis (spreading to other organs) increases greatly.

The significant point is that the actual genesis of pancreatic cancer can begin 17-20 years before it is usually detected. The critical message is to adapt a healthier lifestyle earlier in life and eliminate risk factors that can be controlled. Pancreatic cancer cannot be prevented. Random occurrence and many risk factors cannot be controlled including aging, family genetics, race, and even gender.

What You Can Do To Save Lives

First, become your own best advocate. Next, become an advocate to others. Particularly loved ones that surround you. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, bothers, sisters and treasured friends. Expand knowledge and awareness. Share it. Post it. Tweet it. Take it viral. A role of the Seena Magowitz Foundation is sharing a strong voice to create powerful collective voices. Our common mission is improving the rate of early detection, lowering incidence rate, extending quality of life and striving for an eventual cure of pancreatic cancer.