More than a dozen Iowans whose lives have been changed by pancreatic cancer — striking themselves or a loved one — are in Washington D-C lobbying members of Iowa’s congressional delegation. Melinda Thach of Ames, a volunteer for the Des Moines affiliate of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, says 80-percent of cancer research dollars comes from the federal government.
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Thach, who lost her mother to the disease, says research funding for pancreatic cancer has risen in recent years, but it’s dwarfed by the amount of money funneled to certain other cancers. Pancreatic cancer remains one of the deadliest forms, as 70-percent of those who are diagnosed die within a year.
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More people now die from pancreatic cancer than breast cancer. While pancreatic cancer research got 152-million federal dollars in 2016, breast cancer research got 516-million. The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is nine-percent versus 91-percent for breast cancer. An estimated 580 Iowans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year and 430 of them will die from it.