Danielle Walks in Honor of Her Mother Audrey

(Editor’s note: This blog originally appeared on curePC.org. Danielle is a Patch employee.)

By Danielle Bussani

My mother Audrey was an inspiration to me. She was always a positive person, someone who was kind, loving and never complained. Her laughter was so infectious. I also admired her deep faith and how strongly she believed in the power of prayer.

Over the years we certainly did a lot of praying together with my mother as we watched her beat multiple myeloma and live through a successful kidney transplant. Her physical and mental strength seemed unstoppable. Then came something we never could have imagined: we lost her in one week to pancreatic cancer.

She had been so healthy, and then in January 2015 she began to experience some stomach pain. She thought it would go away on its own, but it just intensified. An endoscopy was scheduled but before it even took place, she saw a doctor who noticed she was jaundiced and sent her to the hospital immediately. There, the last week of January, she found out the cause of her pain, but knowing my mom so well, she would have wanted to tell us personally, not over the phone. Instead she said it was a blockage that required stents and we thought she would be fine. I called her every day but toward the end of the week my father told my sister and I to come to the hospital right away. That is how we found out that it was pancreatic cancer that spread to her liver, lungs and breast. She sadly passed away on February 1, 2015.

When we learned about what had happened, I wasn’t very familiar with this disease. Unfortunately, there are so many cancers out there, but most of them have some sort of screening test, or treatments that might help cure it. Pancreatic cancer doesn’t have any of that. We had asked the doctor how he could have missed this in our mom. That’s when I learned about pancreatic cancer’s silent symptoms and how when it is found, it’s typically too late.

I was determined to do something in my mother’s memory, driven by this new understanding that we urgently need more research for pancreatic cancer, but also more awareness. As my family did some online research, my sister came across The Lustgarten Foundation. What drew us to the organization is that 100 percent of every dollar donated to the Foundation goes directly to research. They bring attention to the facts about the disease through the curePC campaign and also hold many pancreatic cancer research walks.

I decided to join The Lustgarten Foundation’s New York City Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk for the first time with a few friends as “Team Audrey” in her honor. By doing this, I know I am taking steps to change the facts about pancreatic cancer. I don’t know yet what to expect at my first walk, but I am already determined to walk again next year with a bigger team, to raise more awareness and funds for this cause. It just seems like the right thing to do if we want to make a difference for people diagnosed with this disease. And if my mother knew I was doing the walk in her honor she would probably cry tears of joy. I know she would be proud.

Join Danielle Bussani at The Lustgarten Foundation’s New York City Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk, on Sunday, April 26 at Pier 84, in Manhattan’s Hudson River Park. Visit www.curePC.org to register and learn more.