Pancreatic cancer awareness group inspires, celebrates
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(Gallery by Brendan Kuty/NJ.com)
— Bob Brown stared at a crowd he'd never have imagined five years ago.
"The heroes are in the room today," he said. "You are the heroes."
Brown was talking to the nearly 200 people in the Hilton Hotel grand ballroom. The northern New Jersey affiliate of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network met for its PurpleStride New Jersey Afternoon of Inspiration, and the crowd, most of them donning purple, hung on the Raritan resident's every word.
Brown has beaten the cancer since early 2008, undergoing a 14-hour surgery and months and months of torturous chemotherapy. He was a symbol of hope to the crowd, which helped the nonprofit raise more than $165,000 in 2012.
The event took place of the PurpleStride New Jersey 2012 5K at Parsippany's Mack Cali Business District that was scheduled for Nov. 4, but was ultimately canceled thanks to Hurricane Sandy. More than 1,600 participants had signed up for the walk.
Sunday was an opportunity for organizers to thank fundraisers. It was also a chance for survivors and those who lost loved ones and friends to meet and talk about to the disease, which is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States.
And it was a time for people like Megan Kulik, of Denville, and Nicole Trella, of Parsippany, to meet people who shared their pain.
Trella lost her mother-in-law to the disease; Kulik her mother. Each have helped raise thousands of dollars for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, which helps fund research and awareness projects.
Trella said she was angry after her mother-in-law's death and the nonprofit has helped her find ways to cope. It's also helped her give back and teach her children, Harry and Amy, about the disease that took their grandmother.
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"It's a wonderful way to remember her and to be part of something bigger," she said.
Kulik learned about the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network while on Facebook and immediately threw together an effort to raise $2,000 for the 2011 walk. In 2012, she raised even more. Kulik said the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network has inspired her to start her own nonprofit aimed at helping families pay medical bills associated with cancer.
The group doled out several awards during the event, which was hosted by Rich DeMarco, Army Black Knights Football play-by-play voice and Carla Marie of the Elvis and the Morning Show on Z-100FM.
Anyone who raised more than $1,000 for the PurpleStride New Jersey 2012 5K received recognition. The top three fundraising teams and fundraisers also got awards.
There was even icing for the proverbial cake: days before, President Barack Obama signed legislation — The Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act — that forces the National Cancer Institute to plan to advance research on the disease.
Before Brown left the lectern, he had a few words that he hoped would sum up the feeling of the afternoon.
"I'm here today not as proof that it can happen," he said. "I'm here as proof that it does happen. That your actions do generate results and, in some cases, even miracles."