Published: November 14, 2009 06:35 pm      

Local woman battling pancreatic cancer

Somerset — When Diana Gunder began to feel pain in the upper right area of her back, she thought years of hard work had taken its toll.

“It was just excruciating,” Diana said.

She didn’t put the few days she’d felt nauseous with her back pain. She thought she’d eaten something that hadn’t agreed with her.

It was after several trips to a local chiropractor for adjustments that weren’t making her pain any better when the true problem was discovered.

“He (Dr. Todd Bramble) saw that my eyes were jaundiced,” Diana said. “And he sent me to another doctor right away.”

Diana would soon discover hat she had the beginning stages of pancreatic cancer — one of the few cancers for which survival rates have not improved with technological advances that allow for earlier detection and more treatment options.

“It’s really scary,” Diana said. “I was in shock.”

November is National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, and Diana wants people to realize just how quickly the disease can take hold and kill. She said it’s easy to overlook symptoms that accompany the cancer — including back pain, fatigue, indigestion, depression, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, upper abdominal pain and diarrhea.

“There are probably a lot of people with these symptoms,” she said.

Pancreatic cancer is not as well-known as other cancers, such as breast cancer, and according to the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, an estimated 42,470 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer by the end of 2009 (in a year’s time frame), and 35,240 of them will die from the aggressive disease. What’s more disturbing, 75 percent of cancer patients die within the first 12 months of their diagnosis, with a five percent survival rate.

That rate is significantly lower than other cancers. For example, according to information provided by the Mayo Clinic, the five-year survival rate for prostate cancer is 98 percent. The five-year survival rate for early stage lung cancer is 49 percent. For breast cancer, it’s 89 percent.

But it should be noted that a person’s chance for survival after a cancer diagnosis is dependent on the type of cancer, how much it responds to treatment, and how early it was caught.

Pancreatic cancer can affect anyone. Popular actor Patrick Swayze only recently passed away after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer.

Diana knew the odds were against her, but with an early diagnosis, she knew she would fight to survive one of the most poorly understood forms of cancer today.

In fact, her husband Don had never heard of pancreatic cancer before his wife’s diagnosis.

“It really hit him hard,” she said.

Pancreatic cancer is considered on of the most aggressive forms of cancer. It’s common for the disease to have already metastasized, or spread to areas of the body, by the time symptoms are apparent.

“It spreads fast,” Diana said. “It’s probably one of the fastest-growing cancers.”

“It’s like a California wildfire,” she added.

But in Diana’s case, she was lucky. In June of this year, doctors caught the cancer before it had spread to other parts of the body. The cancerous tissue was found to be around two inches long and located in the head of her pancreas — a six-to eight-inch long organ.

But the suggested treatment was something she didn’t think she wanted.

Doctors at the Markey Cancer Center and Diana’s family physician both recommended she undergo a Whipple surgery, or a pancreaticoduodenectomy. Long considered to be the best option for prolonged survival if the cancer has not spread past the pancreas, the surgery generally involves partial removal of the stomach, complete removal of the gallbladder, a bile duct, head of the pancreas, portions of the small intestine, and regional lymph nodes.

In some instances, the entire pancreas must be removed.

Diana very emphatically turned down the Whipple surgery and decided on a completely different treatment route — alternative and holistic treatment.

“It’s all about your overall well-being,” Diana said.

Soon after her diagnosis, Diana quit smoking, radically changed her diet (think a gallon of carrot juice a day, among other changes), and began exercising regularly. The change was so substantial that Diana was able to quit her blood pressure medicine.

“I’m eating better now than I have all my life,” Diana said. “I feel good.”

Diana is not the picture of someone who’s battling cancer. She’s energetic, healthy and optimistic. She said she eats a large amount of baby spinach every day, and she makes sure to take vitamins and minerals to help her body stay healthy.

“I feel blessed, quite honestly,” she said.

And the cancer has not spread. Diana’s last test revealed “no significant change” — something considered a solid victory in the fight against cancer.

Of course, Diana may still have a long battle ahead, and she said medical treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation may be options if the cancer does grow.

Alternative and holistic approaches are still little-known in the medical world, and many doctors and cancer research organizations encourage the use of the treatments alongside more traditional medical treatments.

It’s important, should you be diagnosed with any cancer, that you speak with your doctors about which treatment option is best for you.

After seeing her most recent test results, Diana feels she made the right choice. She remembers her husband telling her that he’d been informed that she would live only six months after her diagnosis. December will mark six months since the couple’s world was turned upside down, and Diana has plans on being around for much longer than that.

“It’s very important that when a person is told they have cancer, that a deadline is not given on (their) life,” she said.

And as Diana fights her battle, she wants more people to be aware of pancreatic cancer, which recently surpassed prostate cancer as the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the U.S.

She said she and Don are grateful for the support of Bramble, who, she said, has stuck by her choices since the diagnosis.

“If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be here,” she said.

For those who may be going through the battle for their lives against pancreatic cancer, and for those who may be in the future, Diana said it’s most important not to give up.

No matter how you choose to fight your battle, no matter which treatments you undergo, according to Diana, nothing is more important than staying positive.