Help Sherry Fight Pancreatic Cancer

Hi, my name is Karen Mackey. I am the daughter of Larry and Sherry Miller. My mom has recently been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer that has metastasized to her liver and lymph nodes. There will be so many medical expenses and I’d like to try to help ease that burden for my parents.

A little background, 4 1/2 years ago, Mom was hospitalized with multiple blood clots in both lungs and both legs. It was a miracle she survived. She has had testing done and they can’t figure out why that happened, but she’s been on blood thinner since then.

In December 2022, she had her thyroid removed and had to stop the blood thinner. There was a mix up with her surgery date, so she ended up being off the blood thinner a few more days than she should have been.

In January 2023, she started having some mild chest pains, shortness of breath and was easily fatigued, but thought it was from the surgery and she just needed some time for the meds to get in her system. On 1/31/23, she had an appointment with the endocrinologist and he said she needed to get checked at the ER.

I took her to the ER and we expected to find out she had blood clots in her lungs again, which she did (and still does). When they did the CT scan of her lungs, it caught the upper portion of her liver and they seen a few areas they wanted to look at closer. She was admitted to the hospital for the blood clots that evening. The next day, 2/1/23, she had a CT scan of her abdomen and they seen tumors on her pancreas, 2 lymph nodes and several on her liver. Less than a year ago, she had a CT scan of her abdomen and it was clear. That evening we got the news no one ever wants to get.

On 2/3/23, she had a liver biopsy and it was confirmed to be adenocarcinoma pancreatic cancer. It is not curable, but it is treatable.

Mom was discharged from the hospital on 2/6/23. She is on oxygen to help her breathe and on pain meds to help with the pain of the blood clots. The pain is the worst part right now for her. It causes her to be nauseous which makes it hard for her to eat.

On 2/16/23, we seen her oncologist, Dr. Kannarkatt. He said the average prognosis for stage 4 of this type of cancer is 12-18 months. He wants to start her on the most tolerable chemo (Gemcitabine) since she is still dealing with the blood clots. After 3 cycles, depending on how she’s doing, he may add Abraxane.

Mom will be having a PET scan 

on 2/24/23 to use as a baseline. Then about every 3 months after she starts chemo to see how effective the chemo is. She should be starting chemo the week of 2/27/23. We have not gotten a date for that yet.

Her oncologist is doing genomic testing to get more information about her cancer. Once those results are back, it takes about 3 weeks, he will send her Johns Hopkins to get set up for clinical trials to save time if/when that time comes. We are going to do everything we can to have as much time with her as possible.

Please consider helping in any way you can.

Thank you and God bless!