This morning I received a short note from a young woman who walked with her brother and their friends on our Marathon Walk team last year, that her father, who had NET cancer, died Sunday. They have asked that donations be made to the Walking with Jane Dybowski Fund for Neuroendocrine Cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in lieu of flowers.

I am deeply saddened by their loss–and deeply touched by their generosity. I have written her a long note this morning expressing my condolences and my heartfelt thanks for their efforts on behalf of NET cancer research.

This loss hurts more than I can easily express. I never met their Dad. But our NET cancer team and our efforts meant enough to them last year that they hung around until I finally reached the finish line.They are a wonderful group of young people who should not be confronting what they now face.

Their father’s death serves as a grim reminder that while we have made great progress in the last 30 months in our work against this disease, we still do not have a cure and likely will not have a cure anytime in the immediate future without finding and committing far more resources than we have to this point. We still spend a pittance on this disease despite the fact it kills more Americans each year than many other forms of cancer–not to mention other diseases–that are better known and better funded.

I don’t know how we go about fixing this. I don’t know how we make primary care physicians more aware of the disease. I don’t know how we make the general public as aware of NET cancer as they are of cystic fibrosis–a disease that kills about 500 people a year–or ALS–where we diagnose about 5,600 cases each year. I don’t know how, with charitable donations for cancer research seemingly in decline and government resources clearly in decline, we find increased funding for a form of cancer few seem to have heard of–and fewer seem to care about.

But we have to try.

That young woman’s Dad won’t be there to walk her down the aisle. Jane won’t be there to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Another friend’s wife won’t be there for graduations, birthdays or births. To quote Bob Dylan: “How many deaths will it take ’til we know that too many people have died?”

I said when Jane died I would do whatever it takes to bring this form of cancer to bay. This morning’s note reminds me that for all the work we have done to this point, far more remains to be done.

June 22 I will finish my term as chairperson of the Greater Fall River Relay For Life. I’ve done and learned a lot during my tenure in that office. But now I need to turn my full attention to this one piece of the larger War on Cancer.  Lives depend on what we do.