BOSTON -- It is the deadliest of all cancers, but there is new hope Tuesday in the battle against pancreatic cancer.
NewsCenter 5's Rhonda Mann reported that researchers in Worcester believe they're on the verge of something big, and now family members of those lost to the disease are asking for your help.
"Karen was always healthy. She was a big strong outgoing kid. All of a sudden, bang one day, and you have the bad news," said Dick Sweeney.
When doctors diagnosed Karen with pancreatic cancer, she was three months pregnant. Miraculously, surgeons carefully removed the tumor without disturbing the baby in the womb.
Months later, Adam was born healthy. But just afterwards, the disease returned. Karen died just after Adam's first birthday.
"The saddest part of all, after she died he runs up the stairs and pushed open the door and hollers, 'Mama,' but mama isn't there," said Karen's mother, Hilda Sweeney.
Researchers have had few clues to this evasive cancer. It spreads quickly, producing almost no symptoms.
"Within six months, half of the people diagnosed with this disease will die and within five years, 98 percent succumb to this disease," University of Massachusetts Medical Center Dr. Ashok Saluia said.
But Saluja has found an important key -- Heat Shock Proteins. In times of stress, they're released into the body to protect cells -- but they're overly abundant in pancreatic cancer cases -- protecting tumor cells from destruction.
"Our initial studies indicate that by inhibiting heat shock protein levels, HSP70 levels we can kill the cells, kill the tumor cells," Saluja said.
The research is in its very earliest stages. But for a disease so deadly it is providing some hope for the future.
Those like the Sweeneys are now asking for donations for the research to continue. While pancreatic cancer is the most deadly, it receives one-twelfth the funding of breast cancer.
"What can we do to make her life positive? If we can fix it so someone else's child can live, that's what we'll do," Dick Sweeney said.
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Rhonda Mann Reports On Cancer
