Pancreatic Cancer

M ARIA SHRIVER didn't indicate anything was amiss in her marriage to Arnold Schwarzenegger when she thanked East Falls' Harry Jay Katz , an old friend, for sending the couple a bottle of vinegar that his wife, Debra Renee Cruz , made for their 25th anniversary on April 26. Katz, who befriended Shriver in the 1970s when she worked for KYW-TV, attended the couple's wedding in Hyannis, Mass. "Thanks for thinking of us and sending wishes on our special day," Shriver wrote in a letter.

In a report that could have worldwide implications, the Rohm & Haas Co. said yesterday that a study of employees at its Bridesburg plant showed for the first time that there might be a link between workers' exposure to the insecticide DDT and pancreatic cancer. The study is the first to link DDT to cancer in people, officials at the Environmental Protection Agency said. If additional studies show that DDT causes cancer it could lead to worldwide restrictions on the use and manufacture of the insecticide, said Albert Heier, an EPA spokesman.

Colgate basketball coach Jack Bruen said yesterday that he plans to stay involved with his team even though doctors tell him he has pancreatic cancer. "I've been to every practice and don't intend to miss any," Bruen said. "If treatment dictates something different later, we will deal with the situation at that time. " Bruen, 48, is beginning his ninth season with the Red Raiders and has led the team to a 106-124 record. During his tenure, Colgate has won a share of three Patriot League regular-season titles, won two Patriot League tournaments and appeared twice in the NCAA tournament.

Four University of Pennsylvania researchers have been awarded $2.4 million in grants to study pancreatic cancer. They were among $5 million in grants announced Wednesday by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PCAN) and the American Association for Cancer Research. The money came from PCAN. Both groups were involved in choosing the grant recipients. Only 6 percent of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are alive after five years. PCAN's goal is to double the survival rate by 2020.

Pancreatic cancer is notoriously lethal - there are almost as many deaths from it each year as there are new cases. The deaths in recent days of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs and Nobelist Ralph Steinman bring unusual attention to this less well-known type of cancer that has been declining despite no big advances in care or finding it early. A decline in smoking, one of the top risk factors for the disease, may be behind the drop in cases. Jobs lived more than seven years after being diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor - a less common, slower-growing, and more treatable type of pancreatic cancer than the kind that killed Steinman a week ago and actor Patrick Swayze two years ago. The Apple chief kept details of his illness behind a fire wall and declared he was cured after cancer surgery in 2004.

Sometimes in science, what you get wrong can be just as important as what you get right. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania set out two years ago to prove that a new drug could marshal T cells, key players in the immune system, against pancreatic cancer. That didn't happen. Instead, the experimental antibody turned more primitive immune-system cells that often get co-opted into helping pancreatic cancer tumors against part of the tumor structure. Tumors shrank substantially in some patients, and median survival time lengthened by two months, to 7.4 months.

Charles Yeo could hardly have been mistaken for a preacher, not with the white lab coat. But as the surgeon mingled among the crowd in a ground floor auditorium at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, one could see why he referred to the mid-November gathering as "almost a religious experience. " It was the fifth annual Pancreatic Cancer symposium, a chance for survivors and those recently diagnosed to learn about the latest advances and - not least - to give each other moral support.

I WOULD PERSONALLY like to thank Dr. Randy Pausch, who recently passed away, for all of his dedicated work in promoting awareness of pancreatic cancer and the lack of adequate funding from the federal government. Pancreatic cancer is an insidious disease with no known cause, no known cure and little money devoted to research. It claims almost as many American lives as breast cancer each year, twice as many as AIDS and has the poorest five-year survival rate of any cancer, at only 5 percent.

Every lifetime should have at least one: The great teacher, the one who inspired, the one who changed your life. For decades of students in Delaware County, Robert Malkovsky - Mr. Mal, or just Mal - was such a teacher. Six-foot-four with a booming voice and a big laugh, he was a gentle giant who ignited a fire for physics in his students. He explained the incomprehensible. He would quietly foot the bills for prom dresses. He made all kids feel as though they were worth listening to. And so Mal's death - so unexpected because he appeared to have won his long battle with pancreatic cancer - was devastating news to those who knew him, as though a light had gone out for them.

Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson received a resolution from the city, recognizing him for the work of the DeSean Jackson Foundat10n in raising awareness about pancreatic cancer and working to find a cure. The resolution is timed to the foundation's plans for "10/10/10 Day," an effort to inform 10 people of 10 awareness facts and to donate $10 to the DeSean Jackson Foundat10n on Oct. 10, 2010. Jackson's father, Bill, died from pancreatic cancer. "DeSean Jackson is a phenomenal athlete; however pancreatic cancer is not a game," Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. said in a statement.

Every lifetime should have at least one: The great teacher, the one who inspired, the one who changed your life. For decades of students in Delaware County, Robert Malkovsky - Mr. Mal, or just Mal - was such a teacher. Six-foot-four with a booming voice and a big laugh, he was a gentle giant who ignited a fire for physics in his students. He explained the incomprehensible. He would quietly foot the bills for prom dresses. He made all kids feel as though they were worth listening to. And so Mal's death - so unexpected because he appeared to have won his long battle with pancreatic cancer - was devastating news to those who knew him, as though a light had gone out for them.

Four University of Pennsylvania researchers have been awarded $2.4 million in grants to study pancreatic cancer. They were among $5 million in grants announced Wednesday by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PCAN) and the American Association for Cancer Research. The money came from PCAN. Both groups were involved in choosing the grant recipients. Only 6 percent of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are alive after five years. PCAN's goal is to double the survival rate by 2020.

Harry Reems, 65, the male star of the 1972 cultural phenomenon Deep Throat, which brought pornography to mainstream audiences, died Tuesday at the veterans' hospital in Salt Lake City. He had multiple health issues, including pancreatic cancer, said his wife of 23 years, Jeanne Sterrett Reems. Mr. Reems, who was born in New York in 1947 as Herbert Streicher, served in the Marines before he ended up in the entertainment industry in the 1970s. He aspired to become a serious actor but was thrown in front of the camera while working on the production crew for Deep Throat.

Few things in life are as anxiety-provoking as the diagnostic tests cancer patients endure every few months. A CT scan or an MRI can provide a reason to hope - or a death sentence. It's no wonder, then, that patients and their families feel "scanxiety" in the days leading up to tests, and again before getting results. Hearts race, palms sweat, and middle-of-the-night thoughts leap to worst-case scenarios. It doesn't have to be that way, says Gabriel Rocco, a contemplative counselor and meditation instructor.

IN A EULOGY that inspired practically everyone inside Bright Hope Baptist Church to jump up and cheer, the Rev. Kevin R. Johnson described Arlene Ackerman as "a woman who dared to dream. " Ackerman, who died at 66 last month of pancreatic cancer, was a lifelong educator whose three-year tenure as head of the Philadelphia School District was rife with controversy. Hundreds of supporters, including politicians, parents and educators, filled the pews Sunday afternoon to memorialize a spirited woman who they said was criticized for not playing politics instead of praised for having a "just-get-it-done" attitude.

There was an outpouring of grief Friday from friends of actress Bonnie Franklin , 69, who died earlier in the day of pancreatic cancer. "My heart is breaking," Franklin's One Day at a Time costar Valerie Bertinelli told People. "Bonnie has always been one of the most important women in my life and was a second mother to me. " Bertinelli added that "she taught me to navigate . . . [life] with grace and humor. " Sally Jessy Raphael tweeted, "The world has lost a gifted actress, and more importantly, a wonderful lady.

As a point guard, Mackenzie Rule is used to handling the basketball. So when the Cardinal O'Hara girls' team was playing possession in the waning seconds of its Catholic League semifinal Thursday night against Archbishop Carroll at Philadelphia University, the ball found its way to Rule. It definitely meant something to Rule, her teammates, and the dozens of fans wearing purple in support of the senior. Rule said she felt as if her teammates "wanted" her to be the last one holding the ball.

Jean Gaasch had traveled the world over, but she believed that in the end, God would not ask her where she had been, only what she had done for the greater good. If so, he had best make himself comfortable. He'll be there awhile. Mrs. Gaasch died of pancreatic cancer on Saturday, Feb. 9, at home in Moorestown. In her 82 years, she wrote a thousand local newspaper columns, taught hundreds of third graders, and raised her hand for many a community cause. But chief among the talking points: She helped craft the future of the arts in South Jersey.

Memorial services have been scheduled for Arlene C. Ackerman, the former superintendent of the Philadelphia School District, in Philadelphia and Albuquerque, N.M. In Philadelphia, a memorial service is set for 3 p.m. Sunday, March 3, at Bright Hope Baptist Church, 1601 N. 12th St. A memorial service in Albuquerque is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at Fellowship Baptist Church, 8550 Saul Bell Rd. Dr. Ackerman, 66, who was superintendent in...

By Seymour I. "Spence" Toll After my 48 years of blessed marriage to Jean Barth Toll, pancreatic cancer swept her away in 1999. For all those years, and ever since, I have been a one-woman man. At the core of it was the appeal of her warm, gentle, and unpretentious spirit, with its unfailing kindness, deep friendships, and boundless capacity for our singular love. She had another delightful self. Although she could dress as tastefully as a conservatively clad fashion model, she enjoyed clothing that was not only old but beat up. She often wore a sweater in which her elbows poked out of holes in the sleeves.