Friday is 'Purple Day' For Pancreatic Cancer Awareness

Fair Lawn officials recently presented a proclamation, recognizing November as Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, to a resident whose husband died from the disease in 2011.

Andrea Milstein, a mother of two, has since then been active as a volunteer with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, a nonprofit group which advocates for research and patients with pancreatic cancer.

This Friday, November 22, is also "Purple Day," when people wear that color in order to spread awareness of the disease.

For more information, or to get involved, visit the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network's website.

Milstein also provided this letter:

Dear Editor, 

It is unacceptable that there is a cancer for which the relative five-year survival rate is still in the single digits at just six percent, particularly when you consider that the overall five-year relative survival for all cancers is now 68 percent. Even more alarming pancreatic cancer is anticipated to move from the fourth to the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. by 2020. This year alone this terrible disease will claim the lives of 1,180 people who live in the state of New Jersey.

Pancreatic cancer patients and their loved ones cannot wait any longer. It is essential that we make research into pancreatic cancer a priority in this country so that real progress can be made toward better treatment options, early detection, and a cure.

I am a volunteer for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and am grateful to the town of Fair Lawn for introducing an Awareness Proclamation that recognizes November as National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.

The proclamation will also raise awareness about this devastating disease and encourage our elected officials to make fighting pancreatic cancer a priority. We must support our fellow citizens who have been afflicted by this disease and advocate for greater awareness and more resources to fight pancreatic cancer.

Andrea Milstein
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network volunteer