In June, I decided to take up running. I wanted to exercise more and get some fresh air. Since I had tried to do it on my own before and failed, this time I ponied up the $3 for a Couch to 5K app, and in 9 weeks (10 if you count the week I took off to go to Alaska) I went from sucking wind and having to walk after running for 90 seconds to doing just what the app advertises--still sucking wind, but running 5km without stopping. That's also good because it means I can participate in the LA Cancer Challenge to support the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research and run the whole thing.

Asking for money and publicizing my participation isn't something I really want to do; I'd be quite content to do this and tell no one (I've been putting off writing this post for a month). But it's for a great cause, so bear with me for a moment. 

Pancreatic cancer has been in the news more frequently in recent years, with many famous people being diagnosed. Off the top of my head, we have Alex Trebek, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Steve Jobs, Patrick Swayze, Pavarotti. Alex Trebek is responding well to treatment. Steve Jobs survived 8 years with a less common and less aggressive form of the disease. The others survived less than 2 years.

When my grandfather was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1999, the 5-year mortality rate was 99.9%. If I recall correctly, back then, about 33,000 new cases were diagnosed each year in the US. Of those, just 33 people would be expected to live 5 years. My grandfather lived less than one. Pancreatic cancer is extremely difficult to detect and as a result is often found too late. In 2017 (the most recent year for which the CDC has data), pancreatic cancer was 10th among cancers for new cases in the US. It was #3 for cancer deaths. More people died of pancreatic cancer than breast cancer (which was #1 for new cancer cases, 5x greater than pancreatic cancer). In 2020, it's estimated that 57,600 new cases of pancreatic cancer will be diagnosed in the US.

Over the last two decades, the prognosis has gotten better. Today, the 5-year mortality rate is is 91%. That rate is still dismal, but the 9% survival rate is an improvement of some 90 times what it was 20 years ago. That's something to be grateful for. This is where the Hirshberg Foundation comes in. For more than two decades, in addition to funding a research lab at UCLA, they have been providing seed grants to fund research around the globe. It's a great organization run by wonderful, dedicated people.

At this point, most Facebook fundraisers say "I'm asking you to support my cause because it's important to me." I won't say it that way. I've been working with the Hirshberg Foundation for 20 years. I spent a college summer in their lab at UCLA. I have a bank account exclusively to hold funds that will be donated their way. A trip to LA isn't complete without a visit with Agi Hirshberg. The Foundation and the cause are more than just important to me.

I'll put my money where my mouth is. This February will mark 21 years without my grandfather. If you'd like to make a donation, I'll match up to $2100--$100 per year--of what is raised (in new funds not already earmarked to be donated). Work will match my donation, so your donation is effectively tripled.

There's no in-person race this year, so sometime on October 25th, whatever the Seattle weather may be, I'll put on my purple t-shirt and go out and run 5km. I'll probably get rained on, I won't come close to a winning time, and if the clouds aren't too low, maybe, just maybe, I'll see a 747 fly by.

Thanks for reading.