In the fall of 2015, Joel Weiss started experiencing pain in his mid-back. It persisted enough that he reached out to his doctor, who ordered an ultrasound and bloodwork. The results revealed that his lipase count, which measures a protein created in the pancreas, was sky-high. “Most people don’t know anything about the pancreas except that it’s involved in diabetes,” Joel said. “My first thought was, ‘my God, I have cancer.’”