Project Purple Turns Up The Volume About ‘Silent Killer’

By Nancy K. Crevier

Dan Patti, Newtown resident and owner of DMP Asset Management at 84 South Main Street, is also a board member of Project Purple, a nonprofit pancreatic cancer awareness organization. Mr Patti wants to raise the volume on the “silent killer,” as pancreatic cancer is known.

More than 44,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer were diagnosed in 2011, according to the National Cancer Institute, and more than 37,000 people died of the silent killer last year. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cancer killer in the United States, behind lung, colon, and breast cancer. But because the symptoms of the disease are subtle, diagnosis is often delayed. By the time pancreatic cancer is recognized, it is often at an advanced stage.

Even patients with pancreatic cancer that can be surgically treated have only a 20 to 30 percent chance of being alive in five years. For many pancreatic cancer patients, including Mr Patti’s mother, the prognosis is far less than one year.

“I remember the date exactly,” recalled Mr Patti. “I was dancing at my cousin’s wedding with my mother on February 4, 2005. Two days later, she didn’t feel well, and I got a call from my brother that she was in the hospital,” he said.

His mother died one month later, from pancreatic cancer that had metastasized to the lungs, just three months before his own wedding. She had never complained of feeling unwell, before that day in February.

It was not the first time Mr Patti’s life had been touched by cancer. His father died in 2001, from lymphoma.

“It’s sad. My wife never met my dad. My kids never met my parents,” said Mr Patti.

He admitted that he does feel vulnerable to cancer, having lost both parents to the disease. So when a longtime friend, Dino Virelli, asked him to serve on the board of the Project Purple foundation last year, set up in honor of Mr Virelli’s father, who succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2010, Mr Patti was more than happy to help.

Right now, said Mr Patti, some types of pancreatic cancer are treatable, but none are curable. “Nine out of ten times, pancreatic cancer is very advanced when diagnosed. It is often, like with my mom, detected in other parts of the body, and no one has any idea that they have pancreatic cancer. At Project Purple, we are hoping that the more people know about it, the more money will go to research to find new and better treatments and a cure. We want to increase the survival odds,” he said.

Project Purple would also like to alert the public to the vague signals that can indicate pancreatic cancer. Pain in the abdomen that may radiate to the back; weight loss accompanied by anorexia, diarrhea, or bloating; new presentation of diabetes; and/or a jaundicing (yellowing) of the skin can be symptomatic of the disease. While these symptoms can also indicate far less serious illnesses, any concerns should be promptly reported to a person’s doctor. Treatments, which can consist of surgery, surgery in conjunction with chemotherapy and/or radiation, or chemotherapy and/or radiation, are most effective when the cancer is diagnosed in the earlier stages.

The actual number of people who die from pancreatic cancer is probably much higher than statistics show, said Mr Patti, because so much of it goes undiagnosed.

Because Mr Virelli and his wife are both runners, Project Purple has focused primarily on raising awareness and funds through road races, although the group has also hosted a wine tasting and dinner to support research. “Our goal has been 13 races in 13 months, and it looks like we will do that,” said Mr Patti. The first race was held in June 2011, and the last one for that particular goal will take place in July 2012.

“Locally, our next race is Saturday, October 15, the ING Half Marathon, in Hartford,” he said, and interested runners can find out more by visiting www.run4projectpurple.com. “All of the money, 100 percent of it, goes to supporting pancreatic cancer research and awareness,” said Mr Patti.

Project Purple runners wear purple when they run, and all Project Purple items, such as T-shirts and caps, are also purple. “When people see pink now, they associate that with breast cancer,” said Mr Patti. “That didn’t just happen overnight. We hope that one day people will associate purple with cancer awareness, particularly pancreatic cancer awareness. Almost everyone knows someone who has died of pancreatic cancer, or been affected by cancer. We won’t know what we can do until we have enough funds to research pancreatic cancer. Advances are made every day, but obviously, we have to go a lot further to find better treatment and a cure,” he said.

“It’s a big deal to me,” said Mr Patti. “I don’t want my kids having a conversation in the future about the dad they used to have.” Nor, he added, should anyone else.

To find out more about Project Purple, to make a donation, and for a complete list of upcoming Project Purple 13 in 13 road races, visit www.run4projectpurple.com.