Episode 298 - Surviving Pancreatic Cancer with Jaclyn Lin

[Music] hello and welcome to another episode of the project purple podcast I'm dinoy founder and CEO of project purple and we've got an exciting interview coming up with a very special guest after a few quick updates since 2010 we've contributed over $3 million in accounting to pancreatic cancer research efforts we've also allocated over $1,300,000 to patients and families through our patient a programs your monthly or one-time gift can improve patients lives through research and Assistance programs you can donate now at project.org pancreatic cancer does not rest and neither will we your support is truly appreciated if you're looking to get involved in one of our events whether that means joining a run team participating in a virtual War walk group fitness golf or anything else you can think of visit project.org events to learn more without further Ado let's meet our special guests coming to us all the way I always say all the way but like everyone is all the way like there there's always a distance in between from where we sit and uh where our guests sit uh but coming to us from northern New Jersey Bergen County uh jacqulyn a ren welcome to the project purple podcast hi Dino thank you for having me today well well thanks for uh taking the time I know we're playing a little catchup it's a as we record this there's some there's been some crazy weather uh here in in our part of the country I know it's uh towards the end of the summer and well you know living in New Jersey like these this is like hurricane season right especially For Us in New England so we had some nasty weather come through yesterday and um but it's great to have you on thank God hopefully we won't have any technical difficulties here as we record this um but this is uh exciting to have you on uh as I said in the beginning you know this podcast um it's just awesome when we bring people on this year kind of their Journeys and their stories because it's why we do what we do um and it's the reason why I get up every day um and as is the staff and I think the podcast has really grown as I mentioned we're almost over 300 episodes well we'll be probably over this as as we've got some recorded here but you know being able to share Journeys and stories I've always said on the podcast I've mentioned this and I've said it in person like we get to meet everybody right we get to meet the survivors the clinicians the participants and sometimes that's hard to share that in a in a context way whether that's in writing or um you know just face to face when we're meeting participants or we're meeting those kinds of people but having the podcast and now that we use the video for so much because social has gone so much to video it's just really awesome that the people themselves can share their Journey so it's made our job a lot easier I feel uh with the podcast um not only having the audio but now the video to allow people the opportunity to share that so I always love bringing people on the podcast it's one of my favorite things of being here at project grp in the job that I do so I'm going to stop talking and as I said the first segment is always the guest opportunity to kind of share their Journey their story um I'm sure your friends and family will be listening in and they'll know but uh there's probably a lot of people out there in the community that know nothing about you and this is the first time they hearing it so with that I'm going to hand over the microphone over to you and give you the opportunity to kind of share your journey sure thank you um so my journey started a year ago um so this podcast couldn't be more timely for me um celebrating my one-year cancer versary as they call it um August of 23 I was 35 years old um pregnant with my second daughter and experiencing excruciating back pain and flu like symptoms so um I would have a fever uh chills and body aches I went to the L&D unit at my local hospital several times at the advice of my OB um they would always check on baby make sure baby was fine and then basically talk it up to pregnancy symptoms and release me um that recurred gosh two or three times before I finally landed in the hospital a third time um and that time I was admitted and they decided to do um a workup on me not just baby um so two months of me asking them to keep looking because my symptoms weren't resolving um finally they did an abdominal ultrasound um of me and they found lesions on my liver and then that led them to go further and order an MRI um I think they were just hesitant to do all of this Imaging because I was pregnant at the time which I totally understand um but it took advocating for myself to get there so the MRI then revealed the um tumor on my pancreas and that was August 8th of 2023 that that news was delivered um obviously pregnant at the time so I had to decide when to do a biopsy um because that would be the next step and all of this to determine if it was cancerous or not so I met with the team of um medical staff and initially we thought we could do it while I was pregnant they you know informed me of all the risks and after you know evaluating them and deciding with my husband um we decided that we would do it while I was pregnant so that way baby could stay in as long as possible um and we wouldn't have to deliver her so prematurely because I was probably about 33 weeks at this point um so we were about to do the biopsy I was at the hospital um but in the 11th Hour the hospital team decided that they weren't comfortable so in their pre-procedure huddle um one of them raised a red flag and came the entire team came into my room and told me that you know we're going to pump the brakes we don't think we're comfortable doing this um and to be fair it was more of a a local community hospital so not a whole lot of experience with um probably doing this procedure while pregnant um because it's pretty rare um but also not a lot of experience with the 35y old with pancreatic cancer um so at that point um I had already um been in touch with an oncologist down at Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health um I was an employee there at the time um contract employee so I knew the medical staff and was able to get in pretty quickly I literally thank them with my life at this point um because they they saved me um so the oncologist then consulted with my OB and high-risk um OB and then a neonle um provider as well and we decided that we were going to deliver my baby at at 35 weeks and then do the biopsy um Post delivery so on August 21st um a couple of days from now my daughter will be one um so on August 21st 23 um we delivered my daughter she was in the NICU for about a week um and then I had the biopsy done four days postpartum so it was a very emotional time sorry for my family um as we had to you know juggle a newborn and then also a new cancer diagnosis that's not something that many people have gone through and there's no road map for it um but thankful that my baby was healthy so she was only in the ncu for a week um and then the biopsy came back a week later um but I didn't make it home a week uh two days before the biopsy came back I actually ended in the emergency room at a different hospital near me um with excruciating right side pain um and I say excruciating to like the nth degree um because I had just delivered a baby so I knew what pain was like but this pain was worse than labor pains um um so we did a CT scan at the hospital then and it revealed the extent of the cancer um which the radiologist used the word innumerable when it came to the liver Mets um something that nobody ever wants to hear um they couldn't even count them so my liver was also gosh probably Tri the size of a normal liver it literally encompassed my entire abdomen um so that is why I was in such pain um pregnant and um why um I was in so much pain now so after that um my doctor my oncologist um rushed the lab to get my biopsy results returned and it came back with stage four um pancreatic adenocarcinoma um which we were bracing ourselves for but I don't know you always want to have that sliver of Hope um and there was also the chance that it could have been neuroendocrine um the doctors who initially di or didn't diagnose me but you know found the the liver Mets in the pancreatic tumor said that it was presenting itself like neuroendocrine um which typically has a better prognosis not always um but in some cases does um but but no it was a dental carcinoma um stage four and that really hit um I immediately had to tell my parents the diagnosis um my family um and I was transferred from the hospital up here in North Jersey to Robert W Johnson down in New Brunswick to start chemo as an impatient um was in so much pain they couldn't release me um so I started chemotherapy on September 2nd so coming up on my oneye anniversary of chemo um and I was in the hospital about a week um did my first cycle of ferox um and I've done 25 more Cycles since so it's been quite the ride um initially I lost a lot of weight I wasn't eating um nauseous very nauseous after um the chemo treatments um it was pretty rough I'd say for the first two to three months so it was probably around the November time frame that I was finally regaining some of my strength and some of my appetite um and that was all a sign that the chemo was working um so with my first scan there was about 40% reduction in my tumors um and I was you know thankfully showing a great response to the treatment um so that November um after you know several months of literally going through hell um I was feeling good and after Thanksgiving we took my then two-year-old to Disney so my husband and I went on a trip at the uh recommendation of one of my oncologists that I had met at upen she said start planning your life in two to three month increments and that really hit home so we planned our first family trip um we left baby at home with our Nanny um so we had full-time child care for our daughter at that point um and we also so had the help of my parents and my husband's parents um they flew all the way around the world from Taiwan to come stay with us um and my parents who live in mouth County um came to help with um the baby while we were away so we were all hands on deck um my siblings um were gosh um there from the start also I mean my sister stayed with me while I was going through impatient chemo and my steps sister Angela um was there to help with um my daughters also so we wouldn't have made it through those first two to three months without everybody um I think the hardest part of all of this was not being able to care for my children um especially my my new baby um in the beginning I was too weak to to hold her to care for her I had a chemo Port um I came home connected to chemo so that was just very difficult um not being able to be the main caregiver um like the mom is supposed to be and thankfully now as I look back a year ago um I can say that I'm stronger and healthier and made it through the the darkest moments of it so far that's not to say that there won't be more difficult moments ahead because with I you're out of cancer as anybody knows you're never Out of the Woods um I am still going through chemo and you know going through the motions but I am having a good response and I'm stronger and healthier and um have been able to spend the summer with my daughters the way any other mother would um so there's obviously a long road ahead um and you know chemo is not easy I wouldn't I wouldn't wish this on anybody but um it's tolerable I've been able to to tolerate it well and um been able to make it through um 26 Cycles so there are options going forward um in terms of treatment yeah um and we can cover that part next yeah I I I just want to jump in here real quick Jacqueline so um like hearing your story I mean like it's just wild because like um as you said in the beginning like I don't do a lot of research on my guests like you know I know a little bit and when you came on I was like oh okay I'm like is she a runner is she one of our Runners participant um and then just to hear I mean it's just so crazy I mean there's something I I mean I think this is and and I mention we say a lot of things but there there's something that I think is very interesting in the last like four years like we've had more and more people from 28 to 40 on our podcast um and I think you are a testament like you know just hearing you tell your story and I'm like oh my God like I have two kids and this week we're going to send my two sons they're 18 and 20 away to college and we're going to be empty nesters so I remember those days like very it's very fresh in my mind because we're at this momentous occasion where we'll be you know shipping both of these boys off to college and I you know you think back at like the the life and so hearing you tell the story like you know okay so you just like deliver your daughter and also early which is you know stressful but then you go right into the the the storm right and you go right into not being around that child and just like I I can't imagine you know as a parent you know um your husband and even your family man like that just what's going on and but also for you so I I I I guess the first question that I have and and I know you said something before like when you're pregnant like you know a lot of things happen I think to women they Ah that's just the pregnancy right like indigestion right back pain because you're you know you you have this baby you know um in the front and you know they as you start to as the baby starts to grow it gets a lot harder um so you know some of these things like back pain is a sign and symptom right like indigestion or GI issues like that's a sign and symptom but I guess if we look back and I know like hindsight's always 2020 and the reason for this is not to beat yourself up but was there anything beforehand like that you could like have pointed to and you know that would say like ah you know like oh I had this episode when I was like 28 um before kids you know I had this like you know GI issue or this back issue that just wouldn't go away was there anything like beforehand or any family history that in in terms of cancer no family history so completely spontaneous like no history of pancreatic cancer at all in my family um a couple of my dad's relatives um had melanoma um but nothing pancreatic no you know abdominal cancer at all um and honestly like there were no symptoms before I I had a healthy pregnancy with my first daughter um then went you know through raising her for a year and a half before you know I became pregnant again and it wasn't until I was about 20 weeks pregnant when I felt 40 weeks pregnant and I was like something's not right here because I you know was losing my appetite I wasn't hungry as often um and you know you get cravings when you're pregnant you're supposed to be hungry um but there was none of that there was just very strong discomfort like I just felt like she was squished in there and she was always kicking which also you know you know babies kick in utero but not to the extent that I was being pummeled by her and you know it turns out that she had no space so I mean I understand why now she was you know so active in the womb because she was trying to make space for herself my liver was so severely enlarged that it was you know taking up half of my my abdomen at that point I'm sure um because it got even worse obviously by the time September rolled around and that CT came um and they actually you know scheduled an induction for me to have her prematurely but um when I got to the hospital for my induction I was 32 cmet dilated so she was coming early whether you know we were planning to or not um because she wanted out you know there's there was just no more space um so there there there were no signs I I don't know when this would have started or how aggressive it you know started out of the gate um but they they say it could take years but I was never jaundice I was never you know any of those vision visual signs that would you know tip you off to say okay let's check this um the only thing that could have you know helped a little bit earlier was my liver enzymes um when they ran some of my blood work my liver enzymes were elevated and that can also help happen in pregnancy though um so the doctors were originally kind of focused on my pregnancy and baby and the fact that it could be help syndrome which is um kind of a preclampsia type scenario but with elevated liver enzymes um and that would mean I would have high blood pressure but I never had that so that was you know kind of ruled out but always kind of lingering as a potential um cause of you know why I wasn't feeling well but I think the doctors were as shocked as my family when they found that it was pancreatic cancer because that was on nobody's radar nobody I think understood the extent of which I wasn't feeling well because I didn't look unwell I mean going into diagnosis I mean I just looked like any other 35-year-old pregnant woman I didn't look ill yeah it's fascinating I mean I know we've heard stories um of pregnant women who um and not with pancreatic cancer but other cancers like I've read stories about breast cancer about lymphoma right like people and I haven't seen the scientific data and and not suggesting this but it's it's fascinating though like that there are women out there that you know and and you know have babies and the babies are fine but then like boom like right after they're done delivering like they're in the treatment right and it's just so fascinating and I know I've talked to some people and they've said like U or read you know like if they didn't you know if they weren't pregnant I don't know if they would have discovered the cancer diet to being pregnant right because like to your point like you know the baby's kicking like crazy and you have all these crazy pains like if the baby wasn't there like I don't know maybe you know maybe it thought going to the doctor yeah 35 and healthy I mean I'm not obese not pre-diabetic not there was no other underlying condition um I I know this is probably our and I asked this question often U but I'm sure listeners are saying you know Dino's going to ask this question and I'm sure you know they've done this but genetics like genetic testing anything come out through that um because I know that that is a requirement now I know you said there's no family history so I'm assuming that nothing came out of it nothing you know family history wise um I'm I don't have the broag Gen um so I'm not a carrier of that um they did find actually unique gene mutation um which is an nrg1 Fusion which is actually pretty commonly found in young onset pancreatic cancer um my husband has done extensive research bless his heart um on pancreatic cancer since all of this and he's actually found and come in ction with um three other individuals who have this nrg1 Fusion it's very rare it's found in like .5% of all pancreatic cancer cases um so there are others like me out there um and two of them also happen to be in their 30s both of them are males um but within you know my age bracket so um just I guess something that's becoming more common in younger people like you know you stated earlier you're finding more young people on your podcast um so pancreatic cancer is no longer just an old person's disease and that's why the statistics I think are so scary um from the outset because it's looking at individuals who typically you know receive this disease or are diagnosed at an older age so they have other comorbidities and not able to tolerate the chemo as well so um not not you know able to make it um you know through through it um so that's why pancreatic cancer has you know the stigma it does about being deadly and you know the fiveyear survival rate is still only 133% but I believe that it could be higher um because young people um could help with those statistics um not saying that everybody is for enough um but I do feel that I've been fortunate the past year to help push those statistics a little bit further um yeah I think you bring up a very valid point though and and something I mean I've said this before this is a fine line that we walk in statistic World um I I think the statistics are important but I don't think the statistics are as accurate as they present themselves and how do I mean by that I'm not saying I'm conspiracy this is not a conspiracy theorist there but you know or a conspiracy theory I think yeah this Statistics are close but I think there's like there should be like a plus five on the statistic because I don't know if there's someone actually going out there like holding people right and you know you're like something you just said is like really poignant which never really thought of but like you think about like there are a lot of young I know there are a lot of younger people because I'm meeting them through this podcast right and young people tend to do better it seems with the tolerability of these treatments in my opinion now this is not this is my opinion it's not medical advice but someone who's been in the space now going on 15 years and I talk to a lot of people so there might be something in there where like to your point like yeah like younger people tend to be like better shaped um don't have as many comorbidities um you know and potentially may be able to tolerate the toxicity of these chemotherapy is better than someone who is you know in their 70s who may have a comorbidity or you know and I'm not saying like yeah there there's always outliers right like there's a 70-year-old who like you know does Pilates like five days a week and you know has a b BMI that's like perfect right and doesn't have any comorbidities like there's always going to be those outliers and and we see them I know someone who's in their 80s and that that's they're they're that person and they've been stage four for almost two years now and they do F flox and they go in every you know every two I think they're on a three- week cycle and they're they're they're getting through it right but usually people in that age group are you know the not that case right so maybe there is something here where it'd be interesting to look and see what the data I have asked around and there the only data that there is is there is a there is which you followed to here Jaclyn there is some data that shows that women um under 50 are being diagnosed at a higher rate right now um there and and you know I think that's something that is kind of obvious um that I've seen but um that's the one data point that I've seen um but my point in the numbers like I've always kind of questioned it over the last five years probably coming out of Co and I know and again this is not a conspiracy theory here I'm not trying to be a theorist or whatever take it for whatever it's worth just in my experience and what I read and what I see and who I talk to um who we've had on the podcast and you know within the community but I also do know and this is fact like cancer rates are exploding like not just in pancreatic cancer like colon cancer rates are like you know well we talked to GI specialist and you know they're doing colonoscopies now on 30y olds and 25 year olds which like five years ago that was not the case right um so there there is something going on um we don't have the answers unfortunately but I think going back back to your story here like it's a testament um of strength and perseverance um I do want to talk about the the chemos and you mentioned this like flox is we call it the kitchen sink right it's it's the nasty it's the worst thing they can throw at you you've done 26 Cycles uh I know you've kind of you said like hey it's not easy um is there anything in that 26 you know these 26 cycles that you found have made it easier like are you doing something outside you know the normal prescribed that you know has able to get you through that um so well just I've done 11 cycles of ffox after the cycle I had to drop drop the oxol platin um typically people have an adverse reaction after X amount of Cycles um and then I also um did full Fury for the last um however many y so but I didn't do anything out of the norm um I the cold therapy because I didn't know about it so I just started I mean it was literally life or death back on September 2nd um so it was you know let's get started there there wasn't any time to to dance around the issue so I didn't know about cold therapy so I have n opathy now um it still lingers um but it's better um I stopped the oxol in February so been off of that for a while um and that's us what gives you the the oxy Platinum is usually the the Platinum for the audience you know the FL fluox you know is a multitude of drugs um oxy Platinum so it's interesting like the oxy Platinum we know works really well with genetic mutations and I think this is somewhat of the frustration of the disease is like we just don't know right so when they throw what I said like the kitchen sink usually with someone who's young I'm sure they're you know the protocols to throw the hardest thing at it especially at you know if you came in at stage four you know where where they can hopefully knock this thing down and and have a positive result but the lingering like you know oxy Platinum creates the neuropathy which is just really really difficult to deal with yeah I mean for a while there I I couldn't put on a necklace or put my earrings in um because you know you just have no sensation in your fingers um it's still lingering in my feet um so you know sandals and sometimes I try to avoid um but it's a lot better now um and yeah I think um because I've been responding so well I don't really have nausea after um my treatments anymore thankfully um Zofran was like my best friend for a while there um and ginger chew and all that stuff um but I mean I think the biggest thing that got me through it was in Shore shakes honestly um from September to November I lived on in Shore shakes I couldn't tolerate any solid foods um things were just coming back up um pretty regularly so uh yeah thankful for insure shakes and I never want to look at another one again um but yeah now I I mean I eat what everybody else eats I I take crayon which is an enzyme that helps you know my pancreas process process the food um and I'll be on that for the rest of my life which is totally fine if I have to take a couple of pills with every meal um I'll do it and if I have to do this pallative chemo or maintenance chemo whatever you want to call it to keep the cancer at Bay I'll do it for as long as it works um I mean the day after I'm pretty much out of commission so I go for chemo every other Wednesday the Thursday I'm pretty much in bed because of fatigue and just feeling crummy um yuck is how I describe it and Friday I go for my disconnect appointment because I do come home with the ball of chemo with the 5fu and by Friday when I'm disconnected I'm feeling probably 80% better um so I like to say I have you know about two to three bad days and 11 good days in a two week period so I'll take 11 good days any day powerful um so right now then the treatment protocol is like like you are you saying I know you mentioned something like maintenance or Pal so are you just like in this routine now of just like maintenance chemotherapy like the scans look good like nothing like the liver's gone back to its normal size and yeah the liver's returned to its normal size probably since December um so it was a a pretty quick response that I had um they still haven't really counted the the liver Mets um they don't use the word innumerable in the reports anymore but they don't give a number either um I just know everything is significantly decreased in size um and my liver enzymes are all in normal range my ca199 which is um a lab value that measures you know cancer antigens for pancreatic cancer um was in the over 200s um at its highest and it's now 14 which is normal normal so my CT scans up until the most recent one have all showed tumor reduction the last one showed just kind of stable State um was a little defeating I will say you know obviously always looking for that that decrease or progress but my oncologist you know has been very reassuring that I've had a great response so far and she doesn't see why um it wouldn't continue um obviously um at some point chemo will stop working um because cancer mutates and that's just how it works um so we're just riding the chemo wave as long as we can um and then once we you know discover any kind of disease progression there is a clinical trial um that I'm eligible for through um this drug by Maris called Zeno it has a longer name that I'm not going to try to pronounce um but it's specific for my energy1 mutation so they're they've shown um you know pretty promising results with it it's not a cure yeah so some people you know have lasted up to a year on that drug as well helping to you know reduce or keep the cancer at Bay so I'm hopeful I'll get some more mileage out of that and then there's you know other drugs that also um Target the same you know energy one pathway um that are available and I mean at this point the name in the game is just you know getting as much mileage out of each option until there is an next um and I think where my husband and I stand right now is trying to Advocate as much for young onset pancreatic cancer as we can in my particular gene mutation um since we've found other young people with the same you know scenario uh it seems to be pretty common although still rare because ban crit cancer itself is rare um in young people um but this energy1 Fusion seems to be a big player um for young people and to get more funding more research um to look at this the same way you know there are other options for braa and her too and all of the other you know gene mutations um that's that's where we stand right now as anyone in I'm sure um maybe the audience listening thinking this too I mean given your age and where you are and stable has uh and I don't think you mentioned where the tumor was has anyone brought up surgery as a potential option at some point potentially if like things were going in the right direction um yeah I've asked my oncologist about it and um I she's a world-renowned oncologist I'm sure many of your other Pat your other um podcasts um folks have had her um Dr O'Reilly out of msk um she said nothing's off the table um but because it's metastatic and it's in my liver it's not an option right now um so we need to you know get the liver under control and reduce the the tumor burden there um quite frankly to to none and then we can you know remove the the pancreatic tumor there's so much happening and I think you said something like you know that this potentially this next clinical this clinical trial right but there's so much happening and I know it's easy for me to say that um you're the one in the fight um but there is there there there's like in the last like three years I feel like out of Co like we came out of covid and you know whatever Co was Co right and we've kind of moved on from that and but there's so much stuff happening in this space with certain Pathways certain mutations like there's this whole panel Kass mutations and these g12s and and all this stuff that's happening would never say it's a good time to be diagnosed but I would say comparatively to like 2010 to where we are today in 2024 right and what is available then you take it as it is right and hopefully you know you get through the next six months or the next three months and then this next clinical trial or this next enhancement and this Improvement in the targeted therapy I think is the best term to use here because I think pancreatic cancer we just had Anon the atra who's a big bench scientist out of MD Anderson and he said you know as we evolve in the disease like we're starting to realize like how the disease works and disease progression but how specific each patient will have like their own patient like their treatment protocol almost like a personalized medicine you know and to your point like you know this nrg1 Fusion you know it's like half of percent of the cases right so there's only a handful of people but you found you know your husband was able to found two more um you know potentially there's a lot to learn you know from that cohort and eventually possibly a treatment that works really well and the reason I say this we brought up CIS Platinum working really well for braap patients like we know that you know we know that now like we're very involved in like high-risk screening for this genetic population for braa one two palpy ATM Lynch syndrome because they know that Cy Platinum the Platinum based drugs when you have Brack of patients and you give them those medicines like that we see disease regression and we see disease disappear so we know it can be done um there's a lot of work being done in the ipmn space and like I said there's there's other things happen happing you know within this Kass um and you know in these genes so it's just a matter I always say is like you just got to stay in the fight um there's so much happening in science that potentially you know in the next three to six months we could see a major you know treatment protocol change and discoveries that could lead to you know disease regression and and expectancy of life going really high and something that we talked about before too your age right like being able to like sustain these types treatments I think is also a factor in that as well because younger people tend to be on the healthier side don't have comorbidities and they're able to sustain some of these treatments yeah yeah I mean thinking back um I think because I was pregnant and because my body was you know fueling another individual I mean my body is trying to create another life um the cancer was just able to take over because pregnancy you know lowers your immune system so I mean they always say you know when there's an outbreak the most sensitive people are elderly you know children um people with you know comorbidities and pregnant people um your immune system just isn't at the same level because you're trying to create life so with a weakened immune system I think the cancer really had an inn and took over and now that you know I'm postpartum and not no longer pregnant um my body was able to fight back thankfully um so yes the chemo helped but I I also do think that my immune system um you know came back and kicked into overdrive to help fight this cancer um not saying that had I not been pregnant would the cancer have you know been there I mean possibly in years um but I I think that being pregnant you know gave the cancer its chance that it and it took advantage of that and that's just my Theory I mean I'm not a scientist no but it's powerful St I mean again like I said you're in this fight so you're you know you're in this um and you know you're the person in the fight that is going through this and so that's uh it's it's extremely powerful um what you just said so I've got a couple questions here left for you and then we'll share with our audience where they can connect with you you mentioned your family early on uh your siblings your parents your husband of course of course your in-laws um you mentioned both your daughters um and I can't again I have an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old so I can't imagine with a two you so you have a three-year-old and a one-year-old then right so talk about the support of your family because I know we mentioned before like you went straight into the treatment you weren't you know you're not being the mom um and I'm not saying it to to upset you uh but you know just the obvious like you went straight into to you know hey I got to fight this cancer versus hey I got to take care of my daughter who was just born so what's the support been for your family and and maybe some friends possibly too during this time yeah I mean um it was all hands on deck um my parents you know the day I was in the hospital and they told me I had you know the tumors um I called them right away and they were up there within an hour um they live about an hour away so from that day forward I mean they've been with us just about every week if not every other week so when I go to chemo on Wednesday it typically an all day Affair um because the the treatment itself takes time and they're never on time so um my parents pick my three-year-old up from daycare for us and now actually um pick both girls up because both girls are in daycare now um so so they've been you know in abundance of help in that regard um you know they'll get my three-year-olds you know ready for dinner um sometimes bath if she needs it um and that's gosh that's been every single week um for the past year and um we wouldn't have been able to to get through this without them and my my sister comes she lives in Delaware so she's a bit of a ride away but she comes when she can and my sister Angela um is about an hour away and she was very instrumental beginning with helping you know my toddler um and then there's my in-laws I mean they live in Taiwan so um once they heard this news um they flew you know halfway around the world and they lived with us for several months and then you know um they went back home and U my father-in-law is here right now helping us um through the summer with my infant and my mother-in-law will be here in two months um you know she had her own um medical um things to deal with but she'll be back and helping us and um just you know thank God that you know she's healthy too and able to be here with her grandchildren and it's kind of been a blessing in a way because you know both sides of the family have got to spend more time with their grandchildren than you know we would have normally so um in that regard it's been a blessing um despite you know all of the the medical appointments yeah you know something that's uh I think we see often though with um you know the disease and you you mentioned a blessing um you know no one ever asked for this right like no one's no one's asking to for a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer but I think when you're you know I've seen in my experience when people are thrown into uh you know this disease um it's amazing like the the positive I guess you would say that uh that you can find through you know the disease itself um of family members um you know realization yeah and I mean my sister-in-law too I mean she's come with us on the weekends um to help out with the girls and um and yeah a relationship that my daughter's been able to you know create with her that you know maybe would not have been there um without this situation so I'm just very thankful for everybody's help and um you know the opportunity that my daughters have to to be with their family um you know and I've since been out of work so you know I've been more of a Hands-On mother since I've been feeling better so the fall was you know our period of Darkness but um with you know me home and around the girls more um it's yeah it's there there are you know Silver Linings through all of this you mentioned something earlier on um when the doctor told you to go on the Disney Vacation um but you said that she mentioned that and I'm just looking at my notes Here it said to live like two to three month increments and to take that is that something that you guys are still doing like you're still kind of thinking that way or living life that way or that change given like the the positive you know reaction to the chemotherapy and you know being able to get through some of these treatments it's changed slightly um I mean obviously with every good scan and you know good blood work result there's you know continued hope and you know there's less of that you know darkness that over that gray cloud that was over the beginning um but we've you know tried to you know still live by that Mantra if you will um we did go to Florida again in May with the girls and um several of my family members my dad joined us my sister my brother um so it was nice to be able to make those memories because we wouldn't have gone to Florida if we weren't in this position um as a um so it's yeah so we still try to you know do things and make those memories um because it is still real I mean every two to three months when I have a scan you just you just never know what's the result will be so um yeah it was good advice of her I appreciate it um scary as it may may be yeah I I mean though um it's powerful though I mean you know we've said this and I've said this I mean it's uh it's powerful what you because I mean um I think if you if you look at life that way you mention blessing right like it's like every day it's not guaranteed we know that regardless of whether you have a cancer diagnosis or not we see that every day right um you know but to to have that I guess that understanding that hey like all right we're going to do what we can do it's going to be the best in the next two to three months is probably so like uplifting in a way I guess if you know if that makes sense but also so powerful like in terms of you're in control of that and you can control that and you know they always say like focus on what you can control and not what you can't control which you know a cancer diagnosis is certainly not something that anyone can control it's kind of out of your hands and you have to have faith in the medications and the the clinicians that you know that they're doing everything to to do what they can to support you know you being cured yeah I mean I guess through all of this I mean one of the very first people I I spoke to um when I became diagnosed is a long-term cancer survivor um pretty sure you know her Camille Moses love Camille just her telling me to keep a positive attitude and you know just you know stay the path stay the course it it struck a Bo with me so I I do believe in the power of positivity and prayer and um I think that you know always looking to that next two to three months um in a positive way um instead of you know thinking of the gray cloud overhead um definitely helps um so I've always been if there's a will away there's a way kind of person so um I'm you know from the outset been determined to beat this I never looked at myself as sick in fact I didn't even realize I was stage four um my husband had to tell me that I was like wow the disease was that bad I had no idea I was stage four um and when I go to chemo I you know try to go with a smile on my face and I don't think of it as like a punishment or something negative I look it as an opportunity I mean I use it to call family members extended family members that I don't get to see often I catch up with you know people that you know as a mom running around I don't get to text you back right away so Wednesday in the chemo chair is my day to to connect with everybody and follow up with who I can and um I wouldn't have that downtime um if I wasn't forced to do it so yeah it's just yeah it's perspective it's powerful stuff um second to last question here given your situation your age everything you've gone through what advice would you give someone listening or watching that's 35 years old that's just gotten the same diagnosis oh man um the biggest one I can say is to advocate for yourself um because at this age there's no doctor that thinks pancreatic cancer or cancer even out out of the gate um I mean I'm hoping that more them are starting to just because like you said there is this you know increase in individuals in my age bracket being diagnosed um but I mean I knew in my gut that something wasn't right um those symptoms I knew were not pregnancy and if they kept checking baby baby was fine so can you look at me now please um I mean I know I'm pregnant but I matter too not just the baby um so when you know something isn't right or you know just keep advocating um and you know if that you know Grim diagnosis does come it's doesn't have to be a death sentence um don't Google because that will drive you crazy and statistics are backward backwards looking um those statistics show the past they don't show the future so they don't they don't show what you could do absolutely true statistics are the past uh they're backwards looking and that's uh that's really powerful there uh given everything that we've just talked about last question here and this is uh a loaded question a lot of my questions are loaded uh but this one there's no right or wrong to this and this is just straight from your experience how do you define pancreatic cancer what's the definition for you that is a loaded question um um pacreatic cancer is gosh I don't even know um it is life altering um it is it will turn your life upside down I went from you know every you know every day person to um somebody completely different and I think that's one of the the things of pancreatic cancer um it's it's it's it's a GameChanger um and your mental health you know is impacted too it's not just your pancreas it's not just you know any organ that it might have spread to um it's it's a mind game um because now your world went from being one thing to now it's completely different and your ability to be able to change um with that and accept it um is important um I think mental health with pancreatic cancer or any cancer um is a big deal so um I gr cancer is a game changer there's no right or wrong it's your own definition and and your experience and I think the the frustrating thing from a patient advocate Jacqueline is like no story um was ever identical there are similarities and I I think that's the power of this community though is is being able to share that and so uh I want to thank you from all of us here at project purple for allowing us the opportunity to kind of share your journey um you know I know this cancer can be very lonely um and I think you know one of the things you know the obvious as you said you know it's everything is like old people but like I said like we've talked to a lot of young people you know in the last like four years um again not a conspiracy theory here but I just think that more people are being impacted by this disease more moms more dads that have young children and so um it's powerful to hear your story and your journey because you know there there's a high probability that someone on the other side listening you know that maybe in their 20s or maybe in their 30s may be experiencing this similar thing maybe not today maybe not tomorrow but maybe six months from now and I think um you know it's powerful to know that there's other people on the other side having positive results um to your point like statistics are just looking back we're looking forward and there's a lot of positives that are happening moving board so thank you for giving us the opportunity to share your journey um and and your story which is loaded with just tons of strength um so I I really want to thank you for that for people watching or listening that want to connect with you maybe there is someone you know that's just recently diagnosed or maybe there's other moms out there that have young children um that are going through a similar journey is there a place where they can connect email uh sure um social wherever wherever you want people to go I always tell guess that just be careful where you point people because they'll come yeah um so yeah we can start with my email it's j Ms Mary H A yees the number three gmail.com um and I'm also on social media platforms um I'm on Instagram as Jacqueline Lynn 514 um and Facebook probably more difficult to find me jacqulyn marray um with hundreds of others but um if you find me on Instagram it'll get you to my Facebook page awesome Jacqueline thank you so much for allowing us the opportunity to share your journey your story uh it's been an honor to have you on on Project purple podcast oh thank you Dino for allowing me to share my story and sorry for all the tears it's been a very emotional ride um they never apologize for the tears uh I can't imagine you know 35 uh going through this so it's it's truly been an honor and no need to apologize thank you thank you for listening to another episode of the project purple podcast if you like today's episode make sure to share this podcast and make sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcast that's a wrap of another episode of the project purple podcast thanks for listening and be safe a [Music]