Patient Perspectives - Fred Durham - Pancreatic cancer

My name is Fred Durham and I live in‬ ‪Aspen, Colorado. I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2007. They say one needs to be an advocate when it comes to cancer and there's no question about that especially when your life is on‬ ‪the line. Pancreatic cancer is one of the big ones. It's the one where they tell you that you need to put your affairs in order because ‪it's a tough one. That was unacceptable for me. I felt very strongly that, as aggressive as that cancer was, I needed to approach it with the same level of aggressiveness. I needed to go to a cancer center that saw pancreatic cancer on a regular basis. In my research it became apparent to me that Johns Hopkins was the center for pancreatic surgery, treatment, research in ‪the world. I underwent about seven hours of surgery, had the classic Whipple procedure that had many ways has been perfected here at Hopkins. The Whipple procedure is an operation that removes the head of the pancreas, the end of the bile duct, the duodenum, and the gallbladder in patients who still have ‪their gallbladders. It is an operation that removes cancers and tumors and other lesions found in ‪these areas. The Whipple operation, even though long and complex, it can restore patients with pancreatic cancer, a cancer that in the past was really a hopeless cancer without any chance for long term survival. Now, I approach every patient with pancreatic cancer somebody who's potentially gonna be cured and live a long life and get back to normal activity. We do more of these operations than anywhere else in the United States and probably in the world. There have been multiple studies that show the outcome and success rates are higher in higher volume centers and, certainly, we are an extremely high volume center. My decision to come to Hopkins was more than just reputation. It was the multi-disciplinary pancreatic ‪care team here. A sensational group made up of experts of ‪various fields. They take a look at you and you're really getting expert advice by certain ‪level here. The depth and breadth of professionals involved in taking care of patients‬ ‪is incredible here. We have surgeons who basically dedicate their focus to pancreas operations. We have medical oncologists who focus on these diseases, radiation oncologist, gastroenterologist. We have radiologists who are expert at picking up lesions and following up these patients. And it's basically the team that makes us‬ ‪so successful. I think Johns Hopkins really does a superb job of reaching out and relating to the patient on a level that you wouldn't expect of an institution this size. It's really quite special, quite special. Now Fred when he came here was a very active individual, but he was no different from anyone else back at that time who had been told he had pancreatic cancer. He thought his life was gonna be shortened. He's back a hundred percent now. He skis, he does anything and everything he wants, and that really is our goal with every single patient who comes here with pancreatic cancer. They say that cancer changes your life,‬ ‪there's no question. When you stare into the abyss, and you do with this disease, and everyone who contracts it does, and you're lucky enough to be able, through the help of good people at Johns Hopkins and those powers that be, pull back from that abyss, you have a chance to reflect on your life and understand what's really important. And the old stuff of smell the roses thing, I can't put into words what it's like to be able to get up every day and enjoy the life around me.