Barbara Washburn, a National Pancreatic Foundation patient advocate, and Elise Tedeschi, a co-affiliate chair of PanCAN‘s Atlanta affiliate of volunteers, can both remember the day they received their pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
“My doctor told me that I had less than nine months to live,” said Tedeschi.
Tedeschi, who was diagnosed 12 years ago, and Washburn, who was diagnosed five years ago, were guests on WABE’s “Closer Look” to spread awareness about the disease on World Pancreatic Cancer Day.
Both women told show host Rose Scott that symptoms such as headaches, backaches, digestive issues and weight loss led them to seek medical attention.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of death from cancer, and each year 24,000 people in the U.S. die of the disease that begins in the tissues of the pancreas.
