By The Numbers… Connor’s Pancreatic Cancer Journey

16+ medical teams providing ongoing care (this doesn’t even include the US consults!)
35+ oncology appointments
Countless other medical appointments with various practitioners
30+ calls to palliative team, some in middle of the night, others scheduled
4 visits from palliative doc at home
90+ In-home nursing visits since April 20th, 2024 (many before that in past years as well)

The tests:

1 celiac Plexus Block procedure
14 stents put in his bile ducts / duodenum (9 are in there right now)
2 ports inserted in the chest to receive chemo (need to be accessed every 4 weeks even post chemo to keep it healthy)
1 PICC line inserted into his arm to receive medications and IV nutrition

6 infections requiring antibiotics (including a couple of instances of sepsis)
77 nights spent in hospital
3 COVID diagnoses (no symptoms, but still required Paxlovid for two and isolation)
2 harrowing ambulance rides
18 trips to an emergency department

15 litres of fluid drained from his abdomen through five paracenteses
84 days on an external pain pump
129 days with an external biliary drain
48 days and counting with a venting G-Tube to drain abdominal contents due to partial bowel obstruction
205 days getting injectable blood thinners (fortunately moved to pills!)

Many oral and IV daily prescription medications
15 – 20 pancreatic enzyme supplement pills taken daily when he was eating regular meals. These pills need to be taken with every meal because his pancreas isn’t functioning as it should.

24 massage appointments
18+calls with nutritionists
6 other forms of integrative care consults (1 functional medicine, 1 integrative pharmacist, 2 integrative consults with US docs, 2 naturopaths)
Many medications (some off label) and supplements taken daily
1 visit to a spiritual medical doctor in Cleveland

15 trips to Cincinnati from September 2023 to March 2024 for the KRAS trial
7+ official consults with US hospitals (including two trips to the US, many phone calls, docs shared and lots of hounding!)
100s of articles read as part of our research
5 books read on healing your cancer
200+ trials tracked and reviewed for applicability / promise

9+ doctors who we’ve consulted on top of his regular teams for one off or recurring support (1 GI doc, 4 medical oncologists, 2 integrative oncologists, 2 radiation oncologists, 2 surgical oncologists)
Countless hours spent scouring Twitter, Medical Express and pancreatic cancer organizations for trials and treatment options (mostly Jen!)
10+ email outreach to survivors, oncologists or others we’ve come across in our research (you’d be surprised how receptive they all are to helping someone they don’t know!)

The pancreatic cancer patients Connor has gotten inspiration from
The patients we have been able to support through their journey, including two who we were able to help join the same clinical trial as Connor, and are very glad they did!
The opportunity to give back, including the support we received from friends and family to raise $50,000 for Princess Margaret’s pancreatic cancer care team
The downs and the things that he went through above were followed by ups – the liver drain was removed, the infections were recovered from, the ascites fluid hasn’t come back, the pain pump came off (and on again, but we hope it will be off again one day), the side effects resolved, the dark days brightened

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