Dear Editor:
Anyone who has faced pancreatic cancer knows the statistics can be terrifying. Too often, patients are diagnosed late, and treatment options can feel limited. I’ve been fortunate, but I’ve also lost people I love to this disease.
When my family and I learned I had stage 3 pancreatic cancer, we understood — firsthand — that it was often treated as a death sentence. I lost my grandfather, uncle, and aunt to stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Each of them died shortly after diagnosis. My oncologist at MD Anderson told me I had 14–18 months. At that time, my hope was simple: that within that window, a new treatment would emerge and give me more time.
That treatment came. Abraxane — initially developed for breast cancer — was not yet approved for pancreatic cancer. My insurance company approved it based on studies showing promise, and because of that decision, I’m still here 15 years later.
I was deeply encouraged to see recent news from the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference about a new treatment that doubled survival for some patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. For families facing a diagnosis today, this is meaningful progress — more time with family and hope for even more advances to come. Hope matters.
Breakthroughs like this don’t happen quickly or easily. They are the result of years of research, clinical trials, scientific investment, and persistent researchers who refuse to give up on pancreatic cancer.
As policymakers consider changes to our health care system, I urge them to remember what’s at stake. Patients need affordable access to medicines today, and we also need the treatments that don’t yet exist. The next breakthrough should already be in progress in a lab somewhere — waiting to become someone’s new chance.
We should do everything we can to support innovation that offers hope to patients and their families.
Sue Clements
15-year survivor of pancreatic cancer
Crane Hill, Cullman County
