‘I Am Aching For Him!’ Melissa Gilbert, 58, On How She Pines For Her ‘Little House On The Prairie’ Pa Michael Landon 31 Years After Actor’s Passing

Gilbert, who wrote the heartbreaking letter for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN), went on to say that Landon’s “voice and talent would have brought us all comfort during these difficult times. The lessons he would have shared with us through his films would have shed light on injustice as it did for so many decades before his passing.”

Gilbert, now 58, wrote that the beloved actor’s death was “cruel and brutal” and noted that pancreatic cancer “doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t care who you are, where you live, what you do for a living, how old you are, what religion, nationality, color, or gender you are. It is a brutal and vicious killer and it robbed me of a beloved one.”

The column for PanCAN aimed to raise awareness about pancreatic cancer and for the organization’s cause: advancing scientific research, building community, sharing knowledge, and advocating for patients.

The Issue With Pancreatic Cancer Detection

By the time Landon was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, it had spread to his liver and was inoperable. He received chemotherapy treatment, but had a grim prognosis. Even today, the 5-year survival rate for people with pancreatic cancer that has spread to distant areas of the body is around 3%, according to the American Cancer Society.

Unfortunately, the disease is still very difficult to detect, and is often diagnosed at later stages because in the majority of cases, symptoms don’t present until the cancer has already progressed.

“Because the pancreas is inside the abdomen, it often doesn’t have symptoms that would tell you that something is wrong with your pancreas,” Dr. Anirban Maitra, co-leader of the Pancreatic Cancer Moon Shot at MD Anderson Cancer Center, told SurvivorNet.

Dr. Anirban Maitra, of MD Anderson Cancer Center, explains why pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed in later stages.

“By the time individuals walk into the clinic with symptoms like jaundice, weight loss, back pain, or diabetes, it’s often very late in the stage of the disease. Each year in the United States, about 53,000 patients get pancreatic cancer and unfortunately, most will die from this disease within a few months to a year or so,” Dr. Maitra continued.

“The reason for that is that most individuals about 80% will actually present with what we call advanced disease, which means that the cancer has either spread beyond the pancreas or into other organs like the liver, and so you cannot take it out with surgeries. Only about 20% of individuals will actually be candidates for surgery.”

When it comes to pancreatic cancer, early detection though difficult is key. It’s important to be aware of symptoms that may indicate the disease, including:

• Abdominal pain that radiates to the back
• Loss of appetite or unintended weight loss
• Yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice)
• Light-colored stool
• Dark-colored urine
• Itchy skin
• Blood clots
• Fatigue
• A new diagnosis of diabetes or existing diabetes that becomes harder to control

The symptoms associated with pancreatic cancer tend to be non-specific, and could be linked to many other ailments, so it’s important to speak to your doctor about symptoms you’re experiencing and what sorts of tests should be performed. An endoscopic ultrasound or an MRI scan may be performed if your doctor suspects pancreatic cancer.

Questions to Ask Your Doctor:

• Should I consider screening for pancreatic cancer?
• Could my symptoms be caused by another illness?
• Should I consider an ultrasound, MRI, or another test?
• How accurate are these tests? What about false positives?

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