Thousands walk 3 miles at Jones Beach to raise funds for pancreatic cancer research

On a breezy, gray morning at Jones Beach, about 3,000 people set out on a three-mile walk to raise money for research on pancreatic cancer.

The event was organized by the Lustgarten Foundation, based in Uniondale, and Northwell Health, and this was its 26th year.

The walk at Jones Beach Sunday raised about $825,000. In 26 years, the event on Long Island has raised $22 million, the foundation said.

Many of the participants formed groups organized in memory of a lost family member. "For those who lost someone, this walk is an opportunity to have community, and they also see there’s hope," Linda Tantawi, the foundation’s CEO, said as walkers mustered in the field where the march was to begin.

Brianna Thompson, 25, from Deer Park, was leading Team Stacey, in honor of her mother, Stacey Thompson. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July last year, participated in the walk in October, and died the following month at age 55.

Thompson was expecting up to 75 number family members and friends to walk with her Sunday, including members of her mother's old Brownie troupe.

"We come, and we hope to raise money, so that no other kids will have to go through it," Thompson said. "That’s our goal."

Also in the crowd Sunday was Thomas DeSantis, 86, from Yaphank, who had surgery for pancreatic cancer in January. His surgeon, Dr. Pejman Radkani, regional director of surgical oncology for Northwell Health's eastern region, joined him.

Radkani said he used a technique called the Whipple procedure for DeSantis’s surgery, named for the surgeon who developed it in the 1950s. But the surgery is now done robotically, which is minimally invasive so that patients recover more quickly.

DeSantis has regular checks but has been declared cancer-free.

People with a family history of pancreatic cancer are more likely to get the disease. Smoking is a significant risk factor, along with heavy alcohol use (which can lead to pancreatitis, an early warning signal for pancreatic cancer), obesity, and exposure to toxic chemicals. Thompson believes her mother’s cancer may have been triggered by her exposure to toxins at the World Trade Center site; she was an NYPD detective and a first responder on Sept. 11.

Pancreatic cancer has one of the lowest survival rates of any cancer, Radkani said. "One reason is it’s usually diagnosed late," he said. The location of the organ also means "drug penetration into it is very difficult," according to Radkani. 

And until now there has been no agent to target the specific pathways of the disease.

"Now, with the research, we finally developed that, and for the first time we are targeting it," Radkani said.

This is a hopeful moment in pancreatic cancer research, Tantawi said. A new drug, Daraxonrasib (whose brand name is Rasonque, made by Revolution Medicine) was approved by the FDA in August. In a clinical trial, researchers found the drug doubled survival times for patients with previously treated metastatic cancer, compared with chemotherapy. 

The drug, which is taken as a pill, shrinks tumors but eventually stops working, Tantawi said. So the foundation continues to raise funds for further research to find the next breakthrough.

Just after 10 a.m., the walkers, most sporting purple T-shirts, set off on a path along the water, with that exact goal in mind.