It’s an exciting time for pancreatic cancer research, says Josh Rogers, race director for Polly’s Run, the annual fundraiser he and his brother started right after their mother died from the disease. Now in its 17th year, the run has raised more than $620,000 for the University of New Mexico Cancer Center Endowment for Pancreatic Cancer Research. The event on Saturday in Albuquerque had 765 runners taking part. “It’s probably been the most exciting week for pancreatic cancer research since I got involved with the disease in 2009,” Rogers said. “A group of doctors announced — actually on the anniversary of my Mom’s death — that they have developed a new drug that is doubling the survival time from seven months to 14 months, and this is the most positive thing we’ve heard in 17 years. So there are great things happening.”Yolanda Sanchez, director and CEO of the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the Rogers family’s raising awareness of the need for pancreatic cancer research is as important as the money they have raised. “The cures of tomorrow start as ideas today, and those ideas are usually not mature enough for the federal government to fund them, so we use funds like this to provide pilot funding for those new ideas to be worked out either in the lab or in teams,” Sanchez said. “When they make a discovery, then they get funded by the federal government to pursue the studies. That’s how the drugs of today started.”
It’s an exciting time for pancreatic cancer research, says Josh Rogers, race director for Polly’s Run, the annual fundraiser he and his brother started right after their mother died from the disease.
Now in its 17th year, the run has raised more than $620,000 for the University of New Mexico Cancer Center Endowment for Pancreatic Cancer Research.
The event on Saturday in Albuquerque had 765 runners taking part.
“It’s probably been the most exciting week for pancreatic cancer research since I got involved with the disease in 2009,” Rogers said. “A group of doctors announced — actually on the anniversary of my Mom’s death — that they have developed a new drug that is doubling the survival time from seven months to 14 months, and this is the most positive thing we’ve heard in 17 years. So there are great things happening.”
Yolanda Sanchez, director and CEO of the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the Rogers family’s raising awareness of the need for pancreatic cancer research is as important as the money they have raised.
“The cures of tomorrow start as ideas today, and those ideas are usually not mature enough for the federal government to fund them, so we use funds like this to provide pilot funding for those new ideas to be worked out either in the lab or in teams,” Sanchez said. “When they make a discovery, then they get funded by the federal government to pursue the studies. That’s how the drugs of today started.”
