ENJOYING THE GIFT OF TIME AFTER A PANCREATIC CANCER DIAGNOSIS

Carolyn Degrafinried couldn’t ignore her lingering feeling that something was off and persistently requested more testing. In April 2015, an endoscopy showed that not only was the mass on her pancreas a tumor, but it was cancerous.

In May 2020, Wells Messersmith, MD, associate director of clinical services for the CU Cancer Center and division head for medical oncology in the CU School of Medicine, contacted Degrafinried with the news that surgeon Marco Del Chiaro, MD, PhD, a professor and chief of surgical oncology in the CU School of Medicine, had newly joined the faculty and was internationally recognized for resecting tumors of the pancreas infiltrating arteries and veins.

“Dr. Messersmith brought her to my attention, and there was still a very bad vascular situation but no apparent liver lesion,” Del Chiaro says. “She had been very stable on chemo for many years, and Dr. Messersmith asked if I felt comfortable trying to take the tumor out. I said, ‘It’s really risky but I think we can try.’”

At each decision point, Degrafinried drew strength not only from her sense of self and self-advocacy, but from her family, her faith, and a multidisciplinary care team that partnered with her to create an adaptable treatment plan. In November 2022, she received the news that she showed no evidence of disease.