MICHAEL FRANCIS: STORY OF A PANCREATIC CANCER SURVIVOR

MICHAEL FRANCIS: STORY OF A PANCREATIC CANCER SURVIVOR
“Everyone Must Become Their Own Health Care Advocate”
Diagnosed: November 2018
Status: No Sign of Active Cancer
Participating in A Clinical Trial Creating A Rosy Future
When Michael Francis’s world changed, he learned that everyone must become their own advocate for finding the best health care. “Finding an integrated health care team that can see beyond statistical survival averages can be key to getting the right care if you’re faced with a life-threatening condition,” he said.
In November 2018, Michael woke up three nights in a row after midnight feeling extremely nauseated. Then, on the fourth day, he got out of the shower and his wife noticed his skin had a lemon-yellow cast. So he went to his primary care physician who suspected he had a bile duct blockage. The doctor sent him to a hospital emergency department.
After being evaluated there, he was admitted as an inpatient and shortly after that, he was diagnosed at age 68 with Stage 3 pancreatic cancer that could not be treated surgically. “I was told the only treatment available to me was (a chemotherapy combination of) Gemzar (gemcitabine) with Abraxane (paclitaxel) and that the median survival for someone in my situation is three years. My wife and kids sure didn’t like hearing that and my daughter, an orthodontist, said, ‘There’s gotta be something else.’”
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