Canapes for Cancer

It's finally here.. our event to raise funds for and awareness of Pancreatic Cancer. Thank you to all those who have been so supportive. It all culminates on Saturday, September 8 @ the Constellation Room , OneDegree 15 Marina. Check out the details, and we look forward to seeing you there.
http://www.morpheuscreative.com/canapesforcancer.html

Pancreatic Cancer- "the Silent disease"

Pancreatic cancer (also called cancer of the pancreas) is a malignant tumour within the pancreatic gland. Each year about 32,000 individuals in the United States are diagnosed with this condition, and more than 60,000 in Europe.


Depending on the extent of the tumour at the time of diagnosis, the prognosis is generally regarded as poor; partly because the pancreas is an organ that is very deep inside the body, partly because the cancer usually causes no symptoms early on , leading to metastatic disease at time of diagnosis.

Median survival from diagnosis is around 3 to 6 months; 5-year survival is much less than 5%

With 32,180 new diagnoses in the United States every year, and 31,800 deaths, mortality approaches 99%, giving pancreatic cancer the #1 fatality rate of all cancers and the #4 cancer killer in the United States amongst both men and women.

Statistics from the Asia-Pacific region is scarce, but the fact remains: Pancreatic cancer is hard to diagnose, usually by the time it is diagnosed it is untreatable, and the mortality rate is unacceptably high.

Signs and Symptoms Generally, the most common symptoms of adenocarcinoma of the pancreas include loss-of-appetite, weight loss, abdominal discomfort and nausea. As these are all fairly non-specific symptoms, there is often delay in getting to the final diagnosis.

Risk Factors include: Age, Smoking, Diet high in meat, genes (to a much lower degree), ethnicity

Awareness

• November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month


• Purple is the traditional color chosen to represent pancreatic cancer


• An estimated 52.7 million dollars was spent on pancreatic cancer research in 2004 of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) cancer research budget. This is just 1% of the NCI’s 4.824 billion dollar cancer research budget for 2004.


• Despite the especially lethal nature of pancreatic cancer, the research spending per pancreatic cancer patient is only $1145, the lowest of any leading cancer

for more information on Pancreatic cancer, please refer to these sites:

http://www.pancreatica.org/faq.html

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1712.htm