By BETTY RIDGE
This holiday season will be a difficult one for the family of Gena May Holland.
It will be the first one without the popular cook’s batches of homemade noodles, and chocolate cakes that were a specialty.
Last spring, Holland, 68, was looking forward to her 50th anniversary with her husband, Charles, and a happy retirement.
That dream ended quickly when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March, and given six months to live. The disease claimed her life May 22, two days after the Hollands’ golden anniversary.
On their anniversary, she rallied long enough to tell her husband, “I love you,” then spoke no more.
The deadliness and rapid progress of Holland’s disease is typical of pancreatic cancer, which is the 10th most commonly diagnosed cancer, and the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. It has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers, according to information from the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.
Only 5 percent of pancreatic cancer patients survive more than five years, with 76 percent of patients dying within a year of diagnosis, as did Holland. The five-year survival rate has improved only from 3 to 5 percent since 1975. This year, an estimated 42,470 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and 35,240 will die.
The best-known in recent months has been actor Patrick Swayze, whose struggle with pancreatic cancer gained much publicity. Swayze had vowed to defeat the disease, but like many others, he was unable to do so.
These solemn figures, and the Hollands’ struggle with the disease, has caused her daughter, Gena Stretch, and her husband, Kevin, to work to educate others about pancreatic cancer. During November, Pancreatic Cancer Month, they hope people will read educational materials and be aggressive in questioning their doctors if they believe they, or a relative, might have the possibility of pancreatic cancer.
“Now we want to volunteer and help spread the word,” Gena said.
Gena May and Charles Holland lived in Pumpkin Hollow, where both were retired. Gena Holland had worked in an X-ray technician in Tulsa for 40 years.
“She had had back problems for over 20 years, and we just thought she was having more back problems,” Gena said.
Her mother also suffered from diabetes – another symptom – and had lost weight and had little appetite, two more symptoms. However, family members thought she was losing weight to help control her diabetes.
She had two surgeries on her back. When the second surgery didn’t help, doctors decided to look further into what was causing her pain.
She went into surgery to remove much of her pancreas. The operation was expected to last seven or eight hours.
“When the surgeon came out after 1-1/2 hours, we knew something was terribly wrong,” Gena said. “He could see that she had pancreatic cancer, which had metastasized to her intestines and mesentery, so they just sewed her up. We went to the oncologist, who told us pretty well what we already knew.”
Holland’s cancer was in stage four when it was diagnosed. Doctors said she might live six months. She lasted less than three.
“We came to find out that pancreatic cancer is a very slow-growing cancer. By the time you find it, it’s too late. It sneaks up on you gradually and you don’t notice it,” Kevin Stretch said.
They tried chemotherapy, but gave up after only one session because it made Holland so sick. Two hospices helped provide her with care in the last two months.
Charles Holland provided a great amount of the care, too, as did family members. Gena Stretch and her sister took family medical leave to help out.
But the Stretches said the hospice workers were essential and provided a vital service.
Although Holland had lost weight and was small toward the end, it still took four people to lift and move her, to avoid bedsores.
As the end approached, she was on intravenous medication, creams and breathing treatments for the pain.
“It was extremely difficult for her, and just the most horrible thing I’ve ever been through,” Gena said. “We declared all of May their 50th anniversary month because we didn’t know if she was going to make it.”
Friends and relatives sent the couple more than 100 anniversary cards.
After some time to recover, the Stretches’ goal is to raise awareness about the disease.
“We not only want to raise money for a cure, but also early detection,” Gena said. “Right now, it’s [early detection] called pot-luck. That’s what the surgeon told us.”
Kevin explained that the most common form of early detection is when a person has surgery for something else, such as her gall bladder, and the doctor notices the pancreatic cancer.
“The odds are that no matter what stage you’re diagnosed at, you’ll last less than five years,” he said.
Their advice to patients?
“Be aware. Don’t take ‘no’ from a doctor for an answer,” Gena said. “Just keep on digging.”
Kevin said MRIs and CT scans can detect pancreatic cancer, but only if doctors are seeking it.
“They have to know they’re looking for it, or else they’ll look right past it,” he said. “You have to be diligent. You have to be your own advocate. You have to be the squeaky wheel.”
Gena said the experience has made her become the assertive person she never expected to be.
Her mother’s illness and death made the family come together to battle the disease. Now, they’re still struggling to deal with her loss.
“These are going to be a rough couple of months without her,” Kevin said.
