Mary Wilmes (Byykkonen) Pancreatic Cancer Fight

Cancer is a devastating illness, it takes so many people every year. Not only physically but emotionally and financially. Mary, 49, was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer before Christmas. For those of you who know her, you know that she is an extraordinary human being.  She is cheerful, loving, unbelievably strong and always puts her friends and family before herself.  Now, it's time that we send back some of that love and support to Mary.  Anything you can donate will be truly appreciated.   At this point it has spread to several lymph nodes, her liver, and her left adrenal gland. The oncologist that is helping Mary has told us that people with Mary's level of the disease on average (and he reminded us that average does not mean everyone) would survive 4 to 6 months without treatment. With treatment, that 4 to 6 months is, on average, doubled.  However, each person will respond differently to the treatment, so we really don't know yet.   Mary is being treated at the University of Minnesota by Dr. Greeno. I'm confident that she is in good hands.   Because of the nature of pancreatic cancer, we can expect that eventually this treatment will no longer be effective. At that point she would move to a different type of treatment, and then another one, and so on until she decides to stop or she has exhausted her options.  Please spread the word. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.