Sharon Petry Bittman, center, and son Riley (third from right) with members of Sharon’s Team from Visions Creative Group.

Editor’s Note: Our guest author is PanCAN Board of Directors member Sharon Petry Bittman, who lost her husband, Andy, just days after his pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 2018. She joined PanCAN’s Board of Directors in 2024 and has led Andy’s Avengers, one of the top fundraising teams at PanCAN PurpleStride New Jersey, since 2018. Sharon has hosted a comedy event for the last two years, ‘Laugh Till You’re Purple’, in honor of her husband, raising more than $60,000 to benefit PanCAN.

Meeting Donna and Jaclyn changed my entire perspective. And as a result, my purpose. Two strangers struggling with the same diagnosis: pancreatic cancer.

Sharon Petry Bittman and friends at Laugh Till You’re Purple

My husband, Andy, passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2018. Rocked my world is putting it lightly. Since then, I’ve tried to figure out what to do, how to help. I’ve done PanCAN PurpleStride to help with awareness and fundraising and last year I hosted my own event, ‘Laugh Till You’re Purple’. It’s a comedy show because Andy would love that — he was a funny guy. And I wanted a fun night where we raised some money, honored Andy’s legacy and mingled with friends and family.

I decided to do it again this year, once again on World Pancreatic Cancer Day. It’s sad that a cancer needs a day, but I understand why. Here’s what changed things for me this year though: a big pivot on how I look at my role and my purpose, as it relates to this crappy cancer. That’s where Donna and Jaclyn come in.

A little background:

I connected with Jaclyn after reading about her in People Magazine. In 2023, Jaclyn was 28 weeks pregnant with her second child and had been experiencing extreme symptoms for two months. After weeks of advocating for herself, further tests showed a mass on her pancreas. A biopsy four days after she delivered her daughter revealed Stage IV pancreatic cancer. After rounds of chemo, Jaclyn started a newly approved precision medicine treatment targeting her rare alteration, called NRG1 fusion-positive. She’s now a leading advocate for increased research funding.

I knew Donna through friends. She reached out to me after her own diagnosis for advice and I quickly got her connected to a PanCAN Patient Services Case Manager.

Sharon Petry Bittman with PanCAN team members Anat Kendal, Stephen Militi and PanCAN Board Chair Karen Young.

Talking to each of them just a few weeks before my event and hearing their stories shifted my thinking to what ifs. What if there were not just a few clinical trials but hundreds of clinical trials with possible treatments for this disease? Ways to not only prolong life, but give hope that it will stick for the long haul with new targeted therapies based on each person’s unique tumor? Chemo solutions that would shrink and allow time for surgery? A place where those diagnosed could turn to, to be heard and not judged, be supported and helped both medically and emotionally?

That’s the story we want to tell — and PanCAN is leading the way. I am grateful to have a front row seat to the progress and to the extraordinary people, like Donna and Jaclyn, fighting that fight.

Because of PanCAN, I was able to connect these women with resources and with hope.

And because of these two women coming into my life, my event this year took on a different tone. It wasn’t just about Andy and his brief journey with this cancer but now more about the future, those being diagnosed today and what their path could look like.

It’s not just about surviving — but thriving. That’s my focus. My new purpose. It feels right, and I know Andy agrees.

Contact a PanCAN Patient Services Case Manager
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