November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month! For the entire month, Project Purple and the pancreatic cancer community are banding together to raise funds and awareness for this disease.
“We have a ton of awesome events going on this month,” said Sam DaCosta, Marketing Manager for Project Purple. “We wanted to make it really easy for anybody to have a huge impact during the month – and to mobilize as many people as possible to get as many eyes on our cause as possible.”
Pancreatic cancer has one of the highest mortality rates out of all major cancers. However, few curative treatment options are available to patients, and virtually no early detection methods. With only 12% of all pancreatic cancer patients surviving this disease, patients, caregivers, families, and survivors need all the support they can get.
“Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, as well as World Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day, are really beautiful things,” said DaCosta. “The increased focus nationally on pancreatic cancer provides a spotlight on organizations like Project Purple and our missions, and gives us an opportunity to rally the whole world around our mission of a world without pancreatic cancer.”
Looking to donate to early detection initiatives throughout Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month? Check out this page!
Enhancing Early Detection Throughout Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month
Part of what contributes to pancreatic cancer’s lower survival rate is the fact that most patients are diagnosed when the disease is already in its later stages. However, when detected early, patients have a significantly better chance of survival. According to cancer.org, patients who receive their diagnosis early have a 44% survival rate, a 32% increase from the average rate of 12%.
“Based on these statistics and what we have seen with other cancers, it’s really clear that early detection would improve survival rates for pancreatic cancer drastically,” said DaCosta. “That’s why we’ve made it such a major focus in where we direct research funding – and we want to rally people around early detection throughout Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.”
At Project Purple, we recognize that everyone’s situation is unique, and no statistic is an accurate measure of a person’s pancreatic cancer journey. If you or a loved one is facing a late-stage pancreatic cancer diagnosis, there is hope. But it’s important to note that in many cases, early detection methods would save lives, which is why it is a major focus of ours.
Throughout November, we will be raising funds for early detection initiatives. We hope these funds will not only help fuel new research but also help save the lives of future pancreatic cancer patients. 100% of funds donated here during World Pancreatic Cancer Day will be donated to early detection initiatives.
We need your help to create a world without pancreatic cancer. Please share this link (https://www.projectpurple.org/awareness-month/) with others as often as you can. We are looking to mobilize survivors, fighters, and family members affected by pancreatic cancer, and caring people everywhere to join together in the fight against this disease.
Let’s Get Our Purple on for World Pancreatic Cancer Day
On November 16, the entire pancreatic cancer community will be celebrating World Pancreatic Cancer Day. We hope that everyone will join us in celebrating all the patients, caregivers, family members, and survivors who have faced pancreatic cancer.
“As the marketing manager at Project Purple, I get to spend a lot of time on social media on World Pancreatic Cancer Day. It’s amazing to see the outpouring of support that comes from the entire community,” said DaCosta. “They all band together and post about pancreatic cancer initiatives and share their purple and share their whys. It’s overwhelming and incredibly inspiring.
We ask that if you want to participate, either in person or on social media, that you:
- Wear your purple on Nov. 16th.
- Post your outfit on social media using #projectpurple and #worldpancreaticcancerday.
- Share why you’re wearing purple in your post.
- Tag @projectpurple and we may share your post!
- On platforms where links are shareable, share the link to this page: http://projectpurple.org/awareness-month. You can let everyone know their donation to this page will go to early detection research!
The more people who post and share their experiences, the greater the impact we can make! We encourage you to share our donation page on November 16 as well. All the proceeds we raise during this event will go directly to our early detection fundraiser, so please consider donating.
We want to see a flood of purple to celebrate all those who have been impacted by this disease. If you don’t have any purple to wear, don’t worry. Click here to visit our store!
Taking Charge with our Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month Virtual Turkey Trot
Before you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner, hit the street virtually with Project Purple to raise awareness for pancreatic cancer. We will be hosting this virtual event during Thanksgiving Weekend, which will be from November 23-26.
“The Turkey Trot is absolutely one of my favorite events of the year because it is really easy to get involved,” said DaCosta, “I was able to run it with my family last year, which was really cool. And because we were wearing our purple shirts, we had strangers asking us questions like ‘What are you guys up to?’ This allowed us to share more about Project Purple and everything that we do; but more importantly, let them know that it is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, and here are the things they can do to make an impact.”
This virtual turkey trot is a 5k run or 1-mile walk that you can do anywhere in the world – whether that means taking a lap around the block, running on your treadmill, or participating in your local Turkey Trot 5k. It’s a great event to do with family, especially because it gets everyone out and moving before sitting down for a big dinner. We recommend running or walking with a group – who doesn’t love some good company on Thanksgiving – but you can also fly solo as well.
“Anybody can do it. It’s not a marathon or ultra-marathon. It’s doing what you can do to the best of your abilities and pushing as a united front,” said DaCosta.
Click here to sign up or learn more about this event!
When you sign up, you’ll receive our awesome Thanksgiving Football-themed Turkey Trot shirt. More fundraising reward details are available on the event page as well. You can join our Turkey Trot Facebook group to stay in touch with the community and receive announcements.
If you participate, we recommend posting your experience with this event as well to continue spreading awareness.
“It’s really awesome to see everyone on social media sharing their trots,” said DaCosta. “We’ve seen people participate in Turkey Trots with groups at in-person 5ks, which is fantastic because you are wearing your purple and spreading a ton of awareness. You’d be surprised how much momentum we can gather and how much attention we can bring to the cause with an event like the Turkey Trot going all Thanksgiving weekend.”
You can run any day during the weekend, and feel free to split the distance up over multiple days if needed! This event is about you taking the time to spread awareness for the cause, so go at your own pace.
Check out our Charity Pickleball Classic
If you live in Connecticut, you’re not going to want to miss out on our new Charity Pickleball Classic on November 11. We will be hitting the courts at Oxford Pickleball in Oxford, CT, for a day of music, food, fun, and of course, pickleball. We welcome all skill levels and pairings! It’s pickleball for a world without pancreatic cancer. Sign up or learn more here!
Learn More About Getting Involved
We hope to see you at one of our events celebrating Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. If you are looking for more information on the events, click here for our special events page for the month.
If you are looking for more of our upcoming events through 2024, please visit projectpurple.org/events! Project Purple is one of just 2 charities in the world that is an official partner at the 5 biggest marathons in the world which accounts for 5 of the 6 Abbott World Marathon Majors: New York, London, Chicago, Boston, and Berlin. Learn more about those teams in this article.
“We’d like to say a huge thank you to anyone who is participating in these events,” said DaCosta.
“The amount of people putting so much effort into this is what makes it so special, from all corners of our community – whether you are a pancreatic cancer survivor, or you have had a family member affected by this disease, or whether you’re a caretaker or whether you have no direct connection to pancreatic cancer but you want to make a difference. All of your efforts are so, so critical and make a huge impact, and we can’t thank you all enough for being a part of that!”
