When Barbara Thornton was diagnosed in 2021, the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer hovered around 10% – not exactly a statistic many people would qualify as glowing or hopeful.
Her sister Mary Rieke knew those odds all too well. "All I heard was 'I'm so sorry' and 'my [relative] died of pancreatic cancer,'" Mary recalled in a conversation with Smart Senior Daily. But you know what? Barbara wasn't having it.
"Someone has to be in the 12%. Why not me?," Barbara kept saying. That number has since nudged up to 12 or 13 percent — a small but meaningful sign that research is working.
And this August, Barbara will be counted among those survivors.
Thornton, who lives in Anderson Township, Ohio, near Cincinnati, spent more than four years fighting pancreatic cancer — through whipple surgery, multiple rounds of chemotherapy, to the moment her primary treatment stopped working, and through a transition to a form of immunotherapy that ultimately cleared her scans, she never stopped being in warrior mode.
And even though she's in the clear, she's not stopping now, either.
Now she's channeling that experience into advocacy, raising funds for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and making it her mission to be the person she never had when she got her own diagnosis: someone who'd actually made it through.
"I didn't know anybody who'd survived it," Thornton told Cincinnati's WCPO-9. "I felt that if I could make it through that — the whole four-and-a-half-year journey — I can hopefully bring a little hope to somebody else who is facing down that tunnel."
Her husband Bob put it simply. "I'll tell my wife's story to anyone who wants to hear it," he said. "If you do get this ugly disease, it doesn't have to take you."
Why Immunotherapy Is Different — and Why It Matters
Thornton's path wasn't a straight A-Z line. After multiple rounds of chemotherapy, standard treatment stopped being effective. At that point, her care team made a pivotal call: switch her to Keytruda, a form of immunotherapy.
Within three months, her blood work was normal. Her scans were clear. Tears, cheers, and a kajillion-and-a-half "yes, ma'ams".
Odds are that, to anyone you talk to, if you mention "pancreatic cancer," you're not going to get a hurrah or a high-five. It has long been one of medicine's most stubborn adversaries, in great part because tumors tend to cloak themselves from the immune system.
Going the traditional route in chemotherapy attacks cancer cells directly but, over time, can lose effectiveness and may throw in the towel completely. Immunotherapy, on the other hand, works differently. Keytruda (pembrolizumab) is what's called a checkpoint inhibitor — it strips the disguise cancer cells use to hide, allowing the body's own immune system to recognize and attack the tumor.
Witnessing a patient whose cancer grew on the first chemotherapy go on to achieve a prolonged, complete response with pembrolizumab is nothing short of a miracle," Arjun Gupta, M.D., F.A.S.C.O., who works closely with patients at City of Hope® Cancer Center Phoenix, told Smart Senior Daily.
"It proves that when we find the right key for the tumor's lock, the results can be truly transformative."
Dr. Gupta urges all newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer patients to ask specifically for both somatic (tumor) and germline (inherited) biomarker testing.
"This can influence treatment decisions, guide enrollment into clinical trials, and offer vital information that has implications for the patient's family," he said.
In his comments to Smart Senior Daily, Dr. Gupta also cited the recently published POLAR trial, which found that combining pembrolizumab with olaparib — a drug targeting BRCA gene mutations — showed encouraging results for a genetically defined subset of metastatic pancreatic cancer patients, adding to the evidence that pairing immunotherapy with the right companion drug, for the right patient, may be the next frontier.
The catch is that it doesn't work for everyone
Keytruda is FDA-approved for pancreatic cancer patients whose tumors carry a specific genetic marker called high microsatellite instability (MSI-H) — a flaw that prevents cancer cells from correcting their own DNA errors, and one that also makes them more vulnerable to immunotherapy. Researchers estimate this marker appears in roughly 1%-3% of pancreatic cancer cases.
That's a small slice of patients — but for those who qualify, the results can be dramatic. In pooled research, about one-third of MSI-H patients treated with Keytruda showed a measurable tumor response, and roughly three-quarters of those held that response for 12 months or longer.
Researchers are working to expand who can benefit. A recent Rutgers Cancer Institute study identified a protein called PHGDH* that may predict which patients are most likely to respond to immunotherapy — and found that pairing immunotherapy with a second drug dramatically improved survival in early animal studies. If confirmed in human trials, it could become a tool for matching patients to treatments most likely to work — and help push that 12-13% survival rate higher.
*PHGDH stands for Phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase, an enzyme that plays a critical role in human metabolism, particularly in the production of the amino acid serineGupta described PHGDH as both a "metabolic fuel provider" to cancer cells and a "hidden master switch" that helps tumors hide from the immune system. Inhibiting it in mice simultaneously starved the tumor and stripped away what he calls its "invisibility cloak."
"I am cautiously optimistic that this and ongoing parallel work will bear fruit and be available in the clinic in the coming few years," he said.
What makes this particularly significant is the broader shift it represents
Keytruda became the first cancer drug ever approved by the FDA based on a tumor's genetic profile — not the organ where the cancer originated. That single change has flipped the switch on how oncologists approach treatment of pancreatic cancer: it's no longer "what kind of cancer is this" but "what does this specific tumor look like genetically."
Mary Rieke watched that shift happen in real time. "I can't help but think that anyone starting now — maybe four years from now there will be more people like Barb," she said. During Thornton's treatment, research advanced enough that options unavailable at her diagnosis eventually became available to her. That's not luck. That's what sustained research funding and advocacy produce.
Turning Recovery Into Purpose
Thornton's approach to survivorship — channeling it outward to as many people as she can — is something more cancer survivors are embracing, and PanCAN has built real programs around it.
The organization's Survivor & Caregiver Network connects newly diagnosed patients with volunteers who've been through it themselves, one-on-one, by phone or email. No white lab coat, no stethoscope, no medical credentials required. Just the weight that lived experience carries when someone has just received devastating news.
PanCAN also hosts PurpleStride, a national network of fundraising walks held in cities across the country, and an annual Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C., where survivors meet directly with members of Congress to push for research funding. Past advocacy helped pass both the Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act and the 21st Century Cures Act — real legislative wins driven by people who showed up.
"Volunteering with PanCAN is unlike any other volunteer experience," said one PanCAN volunteer. "You can see right then and there the hope you're instilling in your fellow volunteers and the pancreatic cancer community."
🔽 FAQs: What to do when someone you love is diagnosed with cancer
What should I say — and not say — to someone just diagnosed? Skip "I'm so sorry" and the stories about relatives who didn't make it. Mary Rieke heard plenty of both and it wasn't helpful. What works better: "I'm here. What do you need?" Practical offers — driving to appointments, bringing meals, sitting in waiting rooms — mean more than condolences. Let them lead the conversation about how serious it is. Don't project fear onto someone who may be choosing to fight.
What questions should the patient ask their doctor immediately? Three matter most right away: What stage is this, and what does that mean for my options? Have you tested my tumor for biomarkers, including MSI-H status? And — critically — should I be seeing a specialist at a high-volume pancreatic cancer center? Getting to the right team early can significantly affect what treatments are available.
What is biomarker or molecular testing, and why does it matter? It's a genetic analysis of the tumor itself that looks for specific markers — like the MSI-H mutation that made Keytruda an option for Barbara Thornton. Without that test, her care team might never have known immunotherapy was on the table. Not every hospital orders it automatically, so ask for it specifically and ask early.
How is immunotherapy different from chemotherapy? Chemotherapy attacks cancer cells directly, but it also affects healthy cells and can lose effectiveness over time. Immunotherapy works by helping the body's own immune system recognize and attack cancer cells — essentially removing the cloak tumors use to hide. It's not effective for every patient or every tumor type, which is why biomarker testing matters so much.
What free resources does PanCAN offer patients? More than most people realize. PanCAN Patient Services offers one-on-one support from trained case managers, help understanding treatment options, clinical trial matching, and connections to the Survivor & Caregiver Network. It's all free. Call 877-272-6226, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time, or visit pancan.org.
What symptoms should people over 50 watch for? Pancreatic cancer is often caught late because early symptoms are vague — mid-back or abdominal pain, unexplained weight loss, loss of appetite, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes), nausea, changes in stool, or new-onset diabetes in someone without prior risk factors. If something feels off and persists, push for answers. Thornton's diagnosis took six weeks from her first doctor visit — a delay that's frustratingly common with this disease.
How to Get Involved
You don't have to organize a major event to make a difference. Some starting points:
Join the Survivor & Caregiver Network. If you've lived through a pancreatic cancer diagnosis — as a patient or caregiver — you can volunteer as a peer contact for newly diagnosed patients. Call PanCAN Patient Services at 877-272-6226 to sign up.
Walk in a PurpleStride event. Held annually in cities nationwide. Find one near you at pancan.org and join or form a team.
Host your own fundraiser. PanCAN's "Wage Hope My Way" program lets you set up a personal fundraising page for any occasion — a birthday, a memorial, a neighborhood gathering. A bake sale works. So does a golf scramble.
Share your story. A local paper, a church bulletin, a Facebook post — it doesn't need to be a national platform. Hearing that someone made it through is often more valuable to a newly diagnosed patient than any medical pamphlet.
Contact your representatives. PanCAN's online Action Center at pancan.org makes it easy to reach your congressional representatives on research funding. It takes about five minutes.
The Bigger Picture
If you asked Barbara Thornton if she'd say her recovery was "exceptional," she wouldn't mince words – an emphatic "Yes!" However, her point isn't that everyone can expect the same outcome — it's that the trajectory of this disease is changing, and it changes faster when more people get into the ring and into the fight.
"Someone has to be in the 12%," she said. "Why not me?"
This August, the answer is clear. And she's spending her survival making sure the next person has someone to call.
You go, girl.
Additional reporting by WCPO-9, Cincinnati. For more information, visit pancan.org or call PanCAN Patient Services at 877-272-6226, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time.
through whipple surgery, multiple rounds of chemotherapy, to the moment her primary treatment stopped working.….
