For the month of December, the NPF will be giving away 50 iconic ornamental zipper pull boxing gloves for every donation of $15 or more. This ornamental awareness ribbon zipper pull accented with boxing gloves is handmade and hand-crafted from
pewter
.
We know how passionate you are like us to give hope to people suffering from pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer through funding cutting edge research, advocating for new and better therapies, and providing support and education for patients, caregivers, and health care professionals.
With your help we can give pancreatic disease a knock out blow! To donate, please go
HERE
.
|
CHAPTER EVENTS
*Save the date! More details to follow.
|
(Above)
The NPF Louisiana Chapter Chair, Jane Macke hosted the chapters' first fundraiser of the year - a dinner at Times Grill Mandeville on Giving Tuesday. The event created a full house and 15% of profits that night went to the NPF.
|
|
Education and advocacy are part of the National Pancreas Foundation's (NPF) mission. Please see the list of events that are coming up throughout the year. We hope you are able to join us! For a complete list, please see our
Events Page
.
|
PATIENT EDUCATION EVENTS
*Save the date! More details to follow.
|
SUPPORT GROUPS
If you would like to create a support group in your city, please contact National Chapter Manager, Patrick Salami at psalami@pancreasfoundation.org.
|
Shopping for the holidays? Shop with AmazonSmile and give back to the NPF! Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. Head to
smile.amazon.com
to start shopping!
|
|
A New Lease on Life: Cecilia's Story
|
"Doctors spent years trying to manage my symptoms, but nothing worked. My freshmen year at Boston College my yearly hospitalizations had become 2-3 a year and my diagnosis transitioned from acute to chronic. I spent entire semesters struggling to make up work and to keep up with my peers while also suffering from and recovering from brutal hospitalizations lasting +/- 10 days. I was weak, tired, sore, and really losing hope."
Cecilia Petricone
, NPF Intern, was 12-years-old when she had her first pancreatitis attack. The bouts got worse which finally lead her to take a sabbatical during her sophomore year of college. Her doctor recommended having a
Total Pancreatectomy and Islet Auto Transplant (TPIAT). Seven months, post TPIAT, this surgery has given Cecilia back her life.
To read her story of hope and recovery, please click
HERE
|
|
The NPF is currently accepting applications for the 2019 grant year. To read more about application criteria, please go here:
bit.ly/NPFGrants
|
Did you miss the November 13th webinar of "Is Pancreatitis in your Genes?", hosted by Mission: Cure? You can listen to it
HERE
.
|
|
Reflections and Hope for the New Year
By Lora Kelly, NPF Central Pennsylvania Chapter Chair
The Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the NPF has enjoyed a productive year of volunteerism at its best. Our support group has remained active and robust. Patients and caregivers have faithfully attended our monthly meetings. We have had a variety of activities to include wonderful presentations on essential oils, iconography, guided meditation, PA service dogs, massage, and a really fun paint night. We also suffered a lot of loss this year. We have supported one another for four years and have continued to support caregivers as they endure end of life issues with their loved ones. It has been a privilege to serve these beautiful people of the community.
Educationally, we have had speakers present on diabetes, nutrition, clinical trials, financial support for cancer patients, and dealing with the side effects of chemotherapy. I have had the honor throughout 2018 to speak to 800 research scientists from around the globe at the World Molecular Imaging Congress; 1,000 researchers at the Controlled Release Society Conference; and participate in an
on line educational program for NPF
. With each speaking engagement I hoped to honor the journey of many by sharing my story and urging research scientists to create better therapies for pancreatic cancer as well as find a cure. I will close the year participating in the writing of a published article by several doctors offering the patient perspective. I hope to move scientific hearts and minds to action to improve survival and quality of life for pancreatic cancer patients.
Our board remains active and cohesive. We have met quarterly through much adversity as board members have suffered great personal loss. Even within our board we have built a family. We have also grown our board, adding a second educational person as well as a a new financial board member. Our social media person has done a great job of keeping our Facebook page current and active. Our secretary has done a terrific job handling communications with patients, caregivers, clinicians, and potential donors. We held our annual bowling event in November and it was a blast! We raised $10K in three hours and had the first ever emceed event.
Looking to 2019, we want to work with the local
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
healthcare system and bring them on board as a certified
NPF Center
. We hope to have another bowling event, as well as introduce a new fundraiser. The first part of the year our support group will merge with a general cancer companion support group at my church. Once we know if my treatment is working and I can settle into a routine, I will resume the support group facilitation. I plan on continuing to speak and our board will continue to meet and strategize on how to reach out to our community.
I am blessed to be a part of this amazing group - both NPF and my Central PA Chapter. I count it a privilege to serve in the capacity of Chapter chair of Central PA.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|