Pancreatic cancer survivor returns a favor

Every Tuesday, Margaret Miner spends several hours at the Providence Regional Cancer Partnership.

Two years ago, the time she spent inside the building was to treat her cancer. Today, she volunteers at the facility's resource center to give something back.

"I told the good Lord I wasn't going to be a missionary in Africa if I survived but I would talk in Everett," she said.

Miner was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer in February 2007. After an unsuccessful surgery, doctors told her the best place to receive radiation treatments and chemotherapy was at the new Providence Regional Cancer Partnership. She was the first patient to use the center's TomoTherapy machine for radiation treatment in June 2007.

A month later, her cancer was in remission.

"It turned the cancer to scar tissue," she said. "It did its job."

Now she says her job is to help other cancer patients and raise awareness about pancreatic cancer.

At the center, Miner, 72, helps patients find pamphlets of information, a wig or a hat. She visits with them while they receive treatment, bringing with her a blanket, some coffee or juice. She makes sure new patients receive a bag of items including a hat, a book and crossword puzzles.

She listens to other patients' stories. They ask her about her purple bracelet.

"They say, 'What's that?' and I tell them I was a pancreatic cancer patient and I was healed in this building," Miner said. "That's all I have to say and they say, 'Wow.'"

Miner and her husband, Clyde, planned to join an expected 500 people at the state's first Pancreatic Awareness Cancer Walk at Bellevue College. The event's proceeds benefit the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, a nonprofit that supports pancreatic cancer patients and raises funds for pancreatic cancer research.

The walk was organized by Brenda Luper, who lost her mother to the disease in 2008 and is meant to heighten awareness about the fourth-leading cause of cancer deaths in the country, Edmonds resident Joan Mabbutt said.

"When you think of the fact that pancreatic cancer is the fourth-leading cause with the highest mortality rate and is receiving less than 2 percent of the federal research budget, that makes you realize how important increased awareness really is," she said.

Mabbutt, 49, volunteers as the education and outreach coordinator for the Puget Sound affiliate of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. This year, more than 42,400 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the United States and more than 35,200 will die from the disease, according to the Network.

Mabbutt's husband, Buck, died of pancreatic cancer in 2004. At the time of his diagnosis in 2003, there were no resources and no hope, she said.

That experience motivates her to deliver pamphlets and provide resources about pancreatic cancer to local clinics.

"I know that devastation when you get that diagnosis. You're in a state of shock and need that (information)," she said.

Mabbutt met Miner recently while she was coordinating Macy's Shop for a Cause event. Miner invited her to the resource center one day while she was volunteering.

"Anything that she can do to raise awareness she's doing," Mabbutt said about Miner's work with cancer patients.

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Information from: The Herald, http://www.heraldnet.com