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The fight against cancer is deeply personal for former Vice President Joe Biden, who lost his son, Beau, to brain cancer in May 2015.
Julie Fleshman, JD, MBA, our president and CEO, understands how it feels to be powerless against a loved one’s illness. “When my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, I was heartbroken,” Fleshman recalls. “It was unfathomable to me that more progress hadn’t been made to provide treatment options and improve outcomes for people diagnosed with the deadliest cancers, like pancreatic or brain cancer.”
“We are driven by a desire to spare other families what our family, and other families, have gone through.” Joe Biden #SXSW #endcanceratsxsw pic.twitter.com/V2bInDK55b
— TMC Innovation (@TMCInnovation) March 12, 2017
On March 12, Biden addressed the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas. He discussed progress made and future goals for the Cancer Moonshot Initiative, originally announced by former President Barack Obama in January 2016.
In his SXSW speech, Biden emphasized the importance of patient participation in clinical trials – a position that we agree with wholeheartedly. Pancreatic cancer patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals can utilize our free-of-charge Clinical Trial Finder to locate trials that might match their needs.
Jill and I were honored to take the stage today at #SxSW. Join us in seizing the urgency of now to end cancer as we know it. pic.twitter.com/TemXB9baJQ
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 12, 2017
Additionally, Biden spoke about large-scale efforts to collect and analyze molecular and clinical patient data to identify patterns and devise new and more effective ways to treat the disease. Similarly, our Patient Registry is aiming to gather pancreatic cancer patient data that can be pored over to help define best practices and uncover patterns to improve patient outcomes.
“We absolutely share former VP Biden’s sense of urgency to make cancer a controllable disease,” added Fleshman. “So many of his Moonshot priorities align perfectly with our innovative research and clinical initiatives here at the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.
“I am unwilling to postpone for one day longer the things we can do now!” --@VP44 @JoeBiden #CancerMoonshot #endcanceratsxsw @sxsw pic.twitter.com/vTM45L2sEG
— Lindsay Deneault (@LindsayDeneault) March 12, 2017
“We applaud Mr. Biden’s efforts and are pleased that he was given the stage at SXSW to raise awareness about the fight against cancer in the United States.”
To learn more about information and resources available to pancreatic cancer patients and their family members, contact a PanCAN Patient Services Case Manager today.
