CurePC Campaign Jumpstarts Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month

RoseAnn Simeone stares directly into the camera, in her hands a large piece of white paper with only word hand scrawled across its front: husband. With her sandy blond hair and simple lavender sweatshirt she could be anyone; a friend, a neighbor, a mom - or a wife. "Pancreatic cancer took my husband," she says unflinchingly.

Simeone is one of approximately 15 individuals to appear in the curePC public service announcement 'Why We Fight,' which begins airing November 1 in honor of pancreatic cancer awareness month.

Two years after losing her husband Matthew to pancreatic cancer, Simeone is still fighting. "I am able to have him as part of my life by continuing to fight for him and for other people, because that was his goal; to help his community" Simeone said. "I'm just continuing what he taught me about his job."

Inspector Matthew Simeone was a 24-year veteran of the Nassau County Police Department, serving as commanding officer for community affairs. The two met in the fall of 2001 via Love@AOL, and were married two years later. After Matt passed away, RoseAnn received an invitation to a "purple" lighting of the Theodore Roosevelt Executive Building dome in dedication to Matt. This was the first time that RoseAnn ever heard of the Lustgarten Foundation.

"During the process of Matt's illness there was really nowhere for me to turn to get information about diets and help," Simeone said. "Pancreatic cancer is just not a disease that people focus on, you've got a five-percent chance to get the operation and very slim for survival." More than 36,000 people die from pancreatic cancer each year while six-percent of those diagnosed with the disease survive more than five years.

The Lustgarten Foundation is the country's largest private foundation dedicated solely to funding pancreatic cancer research. Named after Marc Lustgarten who died of pancreatic cancer in 1999, the Bethpage-based non-profit was founded in 1998 and has donated more than $32 million to over 115 research projects at 41 medical and research facilities worldwide.

"Where there is research there is hope," Kerri Kaplan, executive director of The Lustgarten Foundation said.

The foundation is currently funding research in a number of areas, including early detection, defining familial ties, and genetic approaches to therapeutic targets in pancreatic cancer. "The breakthroughs are amazing, but to get the breakthroughs you need the funding and without the funding research can't be done," Simeone said.

The curePC campaign is the brainchild of The Lustgarten Foundation and Cablevision in hopes of increasing awareness of pancreatic cancer through public service announcements on radio, television and print. After seeing one announcement, Simeone was touched. "I thought it was fabulous," she said. "We're all fighting and basically that's what it says we're fighting and we're continuing to fight."

Since losing her husband Simeone believes awareness has already begun to increase. "It's advertised more now and there're a lot more people in the limelight who are affected by this disease and because of Cablevision promoting, the Lustgarten Foundation has been able to raise so much money," said Simeone.

"When I first got involved I knew people remotely who were effected by pancreatic cancer, but over the years I've met so many individuals whose lives have been effected or torn apart by pancreatic cancer," Kaplen said.

To get involved or to view the curePC PSA click here, 100% of all donations to the Foundation go directly to pancreatic cancer research.