OnMilwaukee is a proud media partner of the PanCAN PurpleStride Milwaukee 2022.
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) returns next month with PanCAN PurpleStride Milwaukee 2022. The fundraising event to benefit a cure for pancreatic cancer will take place at The Rock Sports Complex in Franklin on Saturday, April 30.
Registration is free and open for individuals and teams. Find out more about that here.
Participants who raise $50 or more receive a PurpleStride T-shirt. Anyone who raises $1,000 will be inducted into the PanCAN PurpleStride Grand Club and receive an exclusive gift.
All donations will go toward scientific research, patient services, government advocacy and community engagement for the people and their families affected by pancreatic cancer.
Note: The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network has earned the highest four-star rating from Charity Navigator, the leading charity evaluator in the United States. Less than 1 percent of the thousands of charities rated by the organization have achieved this milestone.
The PurpleStride walk / run will soon announce the route. Go to this local Facebook page to stay in the loop.
Actor and writer Mindy Kaling is this year’s PurpleStride ambassador – unfortunately, she won’t be able to attend the Milwaukee walk – and the walk is also in memory of Al Caminata.
Al passed in 2018 from pancreatic cancer when he was 49 years old, just four months after he was diagnosed. Because there are no early detection tests for pancreatic cancer, people often find out they are ill when it’s already too late for life-saving treatments. Thus, more than 60,000 people are diagnosed annually with only a 10 percent, five year survival rate.
Al’s sister, Lori Malett, is the president of Hatch Staffing (the premier sponsor of the event) and has raised well over $100,000 for pancreatic cancer research.
“The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network was the first organization we reached out to within a week of his diagnosis. We were so impressed with their support, resources and care,” says Malett. “They consistently gave us hope. They found new trials, they armed us with information to challenge his care and we had the same patient advocate from start to finish.”
In 2019, Malett attended PanCAN's advocacy days in Washington, DC where she met with aides of U.S. senators and representatives to ask them to approve more money for pancreatic cancer research.
Pancreatic cancer often strikes healthy men and women, with very few to no early signs.
“My family was shocked by Al’s diagnosis as he was an avid gym goer, super disciplined about the food he ate. He did meal prep every Sunday and at time he was diagnosed, he looked like a body builder,” says Malett. “Al had a 17-year-old daughter at the time of his diagnosis. He didn’t get to see her graduate high school or share many milestones that have followed.”
The more Malett and her family interacted with PanCAN, the more committed they became to the organization – especially after Al passed away.
“Pancreatic Cancer Action Network has a saying, ‘Wage hope; Demand better.’ We didn’t realize until a month into Al’s diagnosis how important and powerful those words were to a patient and their family,” says Malett. “It takes a village of support, research and resources that only PanCan can provide."
Register or find out more about the event here.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
