Walking for Wendy

My friend’s mom, Wendy Keil, passed away after a yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer in September 2011. Wendy’s family formed Walking for Wendy to continue her fight to raise awareness of and funding for the disease. Did you know that pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States?

Here are some other key facts about pancreatic cancer:

• Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of any major cancer.
• There are no early diagnostic tools.
• It is the most under-funded, under-recognized and least-studied of all major cancer killers, with only 2% of the National Cancer Institute’s annual budget dedicated to pancreatic cancer research.
• There is no cure.

Fighting for a cure, one step at a time.

For the second year in a row, I’ll be leading the Walking for Wendy team at the PurpleStride Omaha event on Saturday, June 8th. We’ll be participating in the 1-mile walk/run, and I would love for you to join us. If you live in Omaha, please visit our team page to sign up. Once again we’ll be providing team members with Walking for Wendy purple and white baseball t-shirts.

If you don’t live in Omaha but would like to make a contribution, you can also donate by visiting our team page. Walking for Wendy hopes to raise $100,000 by participating in 22 events this year, and our team goal is $580!

The video above features highlights from Walking for Wendy teams at 2012 PurpleStride events across the country. The Walking for Wendy theme song was written by Franke Previte, who also wrote “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life.” Patrick Swayze chose that song for the movie “Dirty Dancing,” and when Patrick died of pancreatic cancer, Franke decided to get involved with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network to honor his friend. He wrote this incredible song to honor Wendy as a result of the work that Walking for Wendy has done in support of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

If you have any questions about the Omaha walk, please email me!