Pancreatic cancer diagnosis tests Tahoe family
Publisher’s note: Denise Rury will be at this morning’s South Lake Tahoe City Council at 9 to talk about Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month and accept a proclamation from the city.
By Denise Rury
It’s November, which for my family means its Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, a time of remembrance, not just awareness. It was 3½ years ago that my mother, Jeanette Criner, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The gravity of this announcement was even more devastating because her father was also diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died within three weeks.
Despite what little she knew, really what most of us know about pancreatic cancer, she knew enough to know what a formidable enemy she was up against. The statistics are pretty dismal. Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of all cancers tracked by the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute: 94 percent of pancreatic cancer patients die within five years of diagnosis and only 6 percent will survive five more years. Seventy-four percent of patients die within the first year of diagnosis.
Jeanette Criner
Jeanette was diagnosed with stage one pancreatic cancer, which gave her the option of having one of the few tools available in treating this cancer — surgery. The surgery, known as the Whipple operation, where the head of the pancreas, a portion of the bile duct, the gallbladder and the duodenum is removed. It is a complicated and long surgery, but at this point it was the best option available. Tough Jeanette was understandably fearful, she was determined to do whatever it took to fight this.
The surgery seemed to have gone well, but unfortunately a few cancer cells were found outside of the pancreas and perhaps when she recovered from the surgery, gained some weight and was ready, chemotherapy was on option. This was late August 2008 and despite all the efforts of Jeanette with physical therapy, the care and attention of her medical staff, the love and support from her family, she continued a downhill battle that lasted seven months.
I watched my mother having gone from an active woman that at the age of 72 still worked, baked, tended to her garden and enjoyed hikes in and around her beloved Lake Tahoe to becoming a frail, depressed patient who lost hope when it became obvious that her best efforts just weren’t working. Jeanette spent her last couple months surrounded by family, at various times from all across the country, even the world, which was of great comfort. She had the love and support at all times of her family here in Tahoe and would still get out and about to enjoy another favorite activity — coffee with her children or grandchildren to chat about the funny or mundane, anything but pancreatic cancer.
As her health continued to deteriorate, she made the decision to stop cancer treatments and start hospice care. I remember the last time she was outside, taking in the beauty of the lake and knowing it was the last time she would ever see Lake Tahoe. I remember how hard, even in the face of the obvious, trying to encourage her to keep fighting, have a reason, some reason to still be here but that day, with her staring out the window, looking at the lake, it was apparent that this was it. It was only a week or so later that she left for good.
Denise Rury is a resident of South Lake Tahoe.
POT KILLS PANCREATIC CANCER CELLS
Cannabinoids Induce Apoptosis of Pancreatic Tumor Cells via Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress–Related Genes
Arkaitz Carracedo1, Meritxell Gironella2, Mar Lorente1, Stephane Garcia2, Manuel Guzmán1, Guillermo Velasco1, and Juan L. Iovanna2
“The hemp plant Cannabis sativa produces ∼70 unique compounds known as cannabinoids, of which Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the most important owing to its high potency and abundance in cannabis ( 4). THC exerts a wide variety of biological effects by mimicking endogenous substances, the endocannabinoids anandamide ( 5) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol ( 6), which bind to and activate specific cannabinoid receptors. Thus far, two cannabinoid-specific Gi/o protein-coupled receptors have been cloned and characterized from mammalian tissues ( 7): The CB1 receptor is particularly abundant in discrete areas of the brain but is also expressed in peripheral nerve terminals and various extraneural sites. In contrast, the CB2 receptor was initially described to be present in the immune system ( 8) although, recently, it has been shown that expression of this receptor also occurs in cells from other origins ( 9– 11).”
“One of the most exciting areas of research in the cannabinoid field is the study of the potential application of cannabinoids as antitumoral agents ( 12). Thus, cannabinoid administration has been shown to curb the growth of several models of tumor xenografts in rats and mice ( 12). This antitumoral action of cannabinoids relies, at least in part, on the ability of these compounds to directly affect the viability, via induction of apoptosis or cell cycle arrest, of a wide spectrum of tumor cells in culture ( 12). In addition, cannabinoid treatment inhibits tumor angiogenesis ( 13– 15). Both CB1 ( 9, 11, 16, 17) and CB2 receptors ( 11, 18, 19) have been shown to mediate the growth-inhibiting action of THC and related cannabinoids on tumor cells ( 12). The present study was therefore undertaken to investigate (a) the antitumoral action of cannabinoids in pancreatic cancer and (b) the molecular mechanisms involved in that effect.”
A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is so devastating. I recently lost my sister-in-law to this disease. She was diagnosed in November and passed away, at the age of 52, in May.
My heart goes out to Jeannette’s family. I understand your pain.