Focusing on the Positive Amid Cancer
- Retired TV judge Frank Caprio, 87, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last Fall. After seven months of treatment, doctors found no evidence of disease, meaning he reached remission – a remarkable feat for a hard-to-treat cancer like pancreatic.
- Pancreatic cancer is a type of cancer that forms in the pancreas. It is more challenging to treat because symptoms usually don’t present themselves until the cancer has spread or metastasized. Symptoms may include weight gain, back pain, and jaundice.
- Early-stage pancreatic cancer tumors don’t appear on imaging scans, and people typically don’t experience symptoms until the disease has progressed. The pancreas’ location in the abdomen makes it harder to find tumors.
- According to research published in the World Journal of Clinical Cases, pancreatic cancer “has the lowest 5-year survival rate” mainly because of a lack of serological markers for screening, aggressive local invasion, the tendency to spread, resistance to chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, and late diagnosis.
- Immunotherapy is the process of activating a patient’s own immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. This is a treatment option for pancreatic cancer patients, although its effectiveness increases if the cancer is caught in its early stages.
Popular TV judge Frank Caprio, 87, managed to beat the odds by reaching remission after a seven-month pancreatic cancer journey. The “Caught in Providence” judge completed several rounds of radiation treatment to achieve his cancer milestone.
“I rang the bell and am on my way to happy days!” Caprio said in an Instagram post celebrating the moment.
Although pancreatic cancer often comes with a slim chance of survival due to difficulty detecting it when it is more treatable, Caprio remained positive going into his cancer journey.
“I am in need of the power of prayer, which I believe in addition to the medical treatment that I am receiving is the most powerful weapon to help me survive this,” Caprio said in a December 2023 Instagram post.
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Caprio underwent six months of chemotherapy and five treatments of radiation.
“The treatment is a very trying experience,” Caprio told People Magazine.
“You have to dig down deep within your courage and make up your mind that you’re going to beat this,” Caprio continued.
After treatment, Caprio’s care team at Baptist Health Cancer Care in Miami, Florida, celebrated with him as he finished cancer treatment.
As Caprio rang the cancer treatment bell, the retired judge said, “My treatment is done. This course is run, and I am on my way!”
Helping Patients with Pancreatic Cancer Resources
A Tricky Cancer to Treat
Pancreatic cancer begins in the pancreas and is known as the “silent disease.”
Symptoms of the disease rarely show up until it has advanced and metastasized (spread) to other parts of the body.
Although pancreatic cancer survival rates have been improving, it’s still considered to be largely incurable. An exception to this is if the tumor is still small enough and localized enough to be operated on.
WATCH: Pancreatic cancer and early detection.
The National Cancer Institute identifies pancreatic cancer symptoms to include:
- Dark urine
- Pain in the abdomen
- Unexplained weight loss
- Light-colored stools
- Loss of appetite and fatigue
Treatment options for pancreatic cancer may include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy.
More Hope for Pancreatic Cancer Treatment
Some progress has been made for patients in this situation, including one advancement that involved PARP inhibitors.
RELATED: How Do PARP Inhibitors Work for Pancreatic Cancer?
PARP inhibitors prevent cancer cells damaged often during chemotherapy from naturally healing themselves and have shown significant promise in treating ovarian and breast cancer. However, a study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting last year revealed that one of these PARP inhibitor drugs, olaparib (Lynparza), may also work for pancreatic cancer.
The drug extended the time that patients with advanced stages of pancreatic cancer who had BRCA gene mutations could live without the cancer worsening (a measurement doctors call “progression-free survival”). The drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
WATCH: Why Pancreatic Cancer is Hard to Treat
Immunotherapy Offers Hope
Immunotherapy is the process of activating a patient’s immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. These treatment options could be advantageous for patients who catch pancreatic cancer in its early stages.
A study funded by the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy combined two immunotherapy drugs with chemotherapy and found that some patients experienced either a shrinking of tumors or a slowing of their progression.
“Until now, immunotherapy hasn’t had a big role,” Dr. Allyson Ocean, Medical Oncologist at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian, told SurvivorNet. “Now this study combines two immunotherapy drugs with frontline standard chemotherapy, and we’re seeing response rates significantly better than what was published with other chemotherapies alone.”
Immunotherapy does not work for all patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Still, the advances presented in this study and others throughout 2019 give those facing this disease much hope.
Questions for Your Doctor
If you are facing a pancreatic cancer diagnosis, you may have questions but are unsure how to get the answers you need. SurvivorNet suggests asking your doctor the following to kickstart your journey to more solid answers.
- What type of pancreatic cancer do I have?
- Has my cancer spread beyond my pancreas? If so, where has it spread, and what is the stage of the disease?
- What is my prognosis?
- What are my treatment options?
- What side effects should I expect after undergoing treatment?
- Will insurance cover my recommended treatment?
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