Mearle Larocque - April 12th,1935 - Aug 1st, 1996

My Story

Every 15 minutes, somewhere in the world, a person finds out from a doctor that they have pancreatic cancer. I lost my mom in 1996, just four short weeks after her diagnosis. My mom had been suffering from extreme lower back pain for weeks but doctors chalked it up to inactivity from sitting for long periods while recovering from reconstructive knee surgery. It wasn’t until the jaundice appeared that doctors realized that she had pancreatic cancer and it had spread to her liver. Her diagnosis was devastating and turned our world upside down - she had only a few weeks to live.

A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is a death sentence. In my mom’s case, it was heart wrenching to learn that there was nothing the doctors could do to save or even prolong her life – surgery wasn’t an option as the disease had metastasized and there were no proven treatments to help her beat the disease. The only thing doctors could offer was medication to help manage the pain.

Before my mom’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, I knew little about the disease other than Michael Landon had died from it a few years earlier. When my family first received news of her diagnosis, I did what most people do; tried desperately to find out as much as possible about the disease. To my dismay, I discovered that there was very little information available and no organization dedicated to this disease. This was shocking and totally unacceptable to me.

It isn't talked about a lot, but I discovered that pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers. It is the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., and when it comes to this disease, doctors are baffled. There are no early detection tests, few effective treatments, and little research being done to improve the situation. Some cancers are constantly in the national spotlight like breast, lung, and colon but it is time to start a national movement of our own, right here in Canada and raise awareness for this disease that is known as the silent killer. Let's make the colour purple the new pink!

I truly believe that early detection would have saved my mother’s life. It is my hope (and the hope of PANCREATIC CANCER CANADA) that funds raised to support early detection studies will result in the discovery of screening tests that will offer patients who are diagnosed with this horrific disease the hope and support they require to beat this disease.

Laurie Ellies

My connection to Betty Aldridge, my co-chair

I have known the Aldridges for over 30 years. We became neighbours to the Aldridges when they moved to Summitcrest in the early 70's, just prior to Ricky being born. Our families became fast and dear friends and have maintained that friendship over the years. I used to baby sit Jodi and Ricky and now have the pleasure of watching them raise their own children. Memories of the Aldridges include Dick and my father racing to be the first to put up the Christmas lights each year, playing practical jokes on one another, Betty launching her first cookbook, Betty's ( a.k.a. Mrs. Bradshaw) green thumb and dad's nightly jogs with Dick when he was playing football with the Argos. They actually inspired one neighbour to train with them and he later went on to run the New York City Marathon. We have shared many happy occasions over the years and unfortunately some extremely sad occasions like losing first my mom in the mid 90's and then Dick last year to pancreatic cancer. We continue to maintain our close friendship by getting everyone together each and every Christmas Season to share in holiday cheer and tradition.

Betty and I joined forces in 2004 to honour our loved one's memory and promised to be their voice and continue their fight by raising awareness about this devastating disease and the critical need for funding.