Patient stories

Aurora is fighting back against pancreatic cancer

A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is often a death sentence. Today, more than 90 percent of patients diagnosed with this disease will die. In addition, funding for pancreatic cancer research is relatively low, limiting the prospects for short-term advancements.

Recognizing the devastation caused by pancreatic cancer, Aurora Health Care and Dr. Joseph Geenen have partnered to begin a new screening program for high-risk individuals, called the Familial Pancreatic Cancer Initiative.

“Based on the model designed by Dr. Marcia Canto, with Johns Hopkins, we have begun this project focusing on early diagnosis. Consistently we have seen that the earlier we begin treating cancer, the more chances we have for success. With that in mind, we are focusing this project on reaching out to the people most likely to be targets of this horrible disease,” Dr. Geenen says.

High-risk individuals are primarily defined by their family history. People with two or more family members who have fallen victim to pancreatic cancer are the primary targets for this program. One such individual is well-known actress, Charlotte Rae, best known for her role as Edna Garrett from television’s Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life.

Charlotte and her sister, Mimi, have joined Aurora to help kick start this program. Former Milwaukee natives, these two dynamic women lost their mother, sister and uncle to this disease. To spearhead the program, both sisters became patients and were screened by Dr. Geenen and his team.

“Really the screening wasn’t bad,” says Charlotte. “ I didn’t have to drink anything disgusting to clean out my system and it only took about 30 minutes.”

To perform the screening a physician inserts a flexible scope through a patient’s mouth and into the stomach. From inside the stomach an ultrasound is used to examine the pancreas.

“Due to the late onset of symptoms, often pancreatic cancer goes undetected until it’s too late,” says Dr. Geenen. “Working with a consortium of medical pioneers, we believe that in the future we will be able to identify and treat pancreatic cancer in much earlier stages. This program shows terrific promise and I believe will help us to save many lives in the future.”

At a public education seminar on pancreatic cancer, Charlotte Rae showed her emphatic support for this new program when she encouraged the audience, “Say yes! Say yes to being screened! Say yes to knowing and fighting back against this horrible disease! Say yes to living your life!”

To learn more about the Familial Pancreatic Cancer Initiative, please call 414-649-6892.