$22,000.00

A message from Mark D. Gilhuly:

I’ve spent the better part of my life trying to eat right, exercise, get enough sleep and reduce stress.  I love running and, since my twenties, have finished 24 Marathons and 50 triathlons, including the Iron Man Triathlon.  In addition, I am an avid golfer.

Early last year, I started feeling tired and was experiencing a loss of appetite.  After a few weeks I went to see my PCP.  Then came a bunch of tests with the results:  I had pancreatic cancer. 

Interminable web searches followed as I researched to learn as much as I could about the disease.  My family and friends have been invaluable support.  I have a team of skilled medical professionals who are helping me through this very difficult journey.

Key in this journey has been my surgeon, Dr. Christopher Wolfgang, who performed the Whipple Procedure, (who is the Whipple Wizard of the world) with vascular involvement and is guiding my recovery.

While he trains residents, Dr. Wolfgang's highest priority need is eradicating disease recurrence using circulating tumor cells.

Circulating tumor cells--living tumor cells that leave the primary tumor and escape into circulation--are believed to be the primary cause of progression of disease: making tumors unresectable at diagnosis or causing recurrence of disease in patients who have already undergone surgery. Dr. Wolfgang and his team have pioneered the isolation of these cells and shown that multiple subtypes exist, with certain types associated with worse survival. With more sophisticated technologies now available, the team plans to further characterize these cells to better understand their biology. By identifying the subtypes that are distinctly responsible for recurrence, novel therapies can be developed to eliminate them from circulation and prevent progression of disease early on.