Raising Awareness

PANCREATIC CANCER DIFFICULT TO DETECT

By Debbie Miller

Posted: November 11, 2009 at 4:50 a.m.

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FAYETTEVILLE — Mary Katherine Wilson’s mother had joined her daughter’s family and her daughter’s in-laws for a spring break trip when she started feeling ill.

Her back hurt. She felt nauseated.

Maybe it was car sickness, they thought.

The health issues continued after the March trip was over, and Wilson’s mom underwent a variety of tests. In June, she had the diagnosis - pancreatic cancer.

In the same general time frame, Wilson’s father was about to have gall bladder surgery, but became jaundiced a few days before the scheduled procedure.

A scan was performed, and a tumor was detected on his pancreas.

Two parents, divorced and living in different communities.

Two cancer diagnoses. Two adult children left reeling.

For Wilson and her brother, Marc Lawhorne, who lives in Columbia, Mo., the past six months have been a difficult journey - in terms of mental resolve and physical distance.

The siblings are watching both their parents “fighting for their lives,” she said.

Wilson’s mom, Sara Lawhorne, lives in Nevada, Mo. Her dad, Ron Lawhorne, lives in Lamar, Mo.

The parents have been treated at varied locations with different treatment protocols. Her dad had an 11-hour surgical procedure and chemotherapy. Surgery was not an option for Wilson’s mother;

she has undergone three rounds of chemotherapy.

In the past two months - amid the trips to other locales to be there for her parents - Wilson has considered what actions she can take.

The Fayetteville woman’s open to ideas. She’s pondered a local support group, if there’s enough interest.

She’s talked with people at the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. She’s created a Web page to tell her family’s story and to help raise money for research and patient support.

And she’s created fl iers to post at various locations in Northwest Arkansas.

“Did you know?” asks the letter-size page with bulleted points marked with purple ribbons (the color designated for pancreatic cancer awareness).

The flier notes that pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States, that the cancer will afflict more than 42,000 Americans this year, 76 percent of whom will die within one year of their diagnosis.

Wilson, who’s on family medical leave from her job at Jones Elementary School in Springdale, has received greatsupport from her husband, Mike, and his family and from colleagues at school.

She wants to fi nd a way to help others who may feel that they’re facing the illness alone. She also wants to educate others about the disease, which is difficult to detect. There is no routine screening process for that form of cancer, she said.

She approached Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan and Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse, both of whom agreed to issue proclamations declaring November as Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.

Sprouse said that Wilson approached administrative assistant Rose Lawrence withher request, sharing her background and family connection to the illness.

Proclamation requests often come from groups or public entities. Her family story resonated.

“This one especially piqued my interest,” Sprouse said. He noted that a good friend of his family lost her brother earlier this year to pancreatic cancer.

It was the illness actor Patrick Swayze died from, and the form of cancer that took the life of Randy Pausch, author of “The Last Lecture.”

Wilson’s hoping that the high-profile cases will help draw more attention to this particular kind of cancer andthe need for more research dollars.

Encouraging people to wear purple bracelets (she wears two) and purple ribbons and posting informational fliers are small steps, she said. But they are steps.

The Wilsons have a 2-yearold daughter, Mackenzie. Wilson’s mom has thought fleetingly about the experiences she may not be able to share - dance recitals, the grandmother-granddaughter moments. But the elder woman presses on.

When Wilson looks at her mom, she’s inspired.

“I think from her I defi nitely got my strength,” Wilson said. “She keeps me going.”

Entertainment, Pages 10 on 11/11/2009

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