When I was 25 years old, I was working hard and trying to live life to the fullest. I had recently been promoted at work and between 60 hour work weeks, my girlfriend, now wife, and I would get out of town every chance we could.

Everything was going to plan, my life was playing out just how I had envisioned it. As we were beginning to make our life together, I noticed that there was something a little wrong with my abdomen. I thought I had just tweaked a muscle playing soccer, but when the hardness on the left side of my stomach did not resolve, I got a little worried and showed our family doctor, my father.

The next day, I was in my Dad’s office getting an ultrasound performed on my belly. The tech could not actually find my pancreas, all that she saw in its place was a grapefruit sized cyst. My father and I looked at each other but still were not all that concerned. I was young, healthy, and took good care of myself. What could it possibly be?

A few scans and an endoscopic ultrasound with fine needle aspiration later, I got the diagnosis. Adenocarcinoma, likely cystadenocarcinoma with a small metastasis in the liver. July 5th, 2006. I was 25 years old. My life was turned up side down. The beginning stages of my life were just unfolding and I was diagnosed with a disease that gave me less than a 5% chance of seeing my 30th birthday.

Because of the lesion in my liver, surgery was no longer an option, not to mention that the cyst was very large and involved with a few major veins and other essential structures. I started chemotherapy almost immediately and have continued, almost continuously, for over three years now. People ask me what cycle I am on and I respond that I am still on my first, its just that its duration in sort of indefinite.

It is now 2009, and I am officially a 3-year survivor. Thanks to my family and friends, I’ve been able to endure the physical and emotional roller coaster of the last few years. Probably more admirable, they have been able to endure the ride as well. At the beginning, we knew little if anything about this disease. The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network has been a great resource to shed a little light onto a very uncertain path.

As low as I felt when I received my diagnosis of stage IV pancreatic cancer, I have felt just as high at the many special moments I have shared with those closest to me since that fateful day. And though chemo has really started to take a toll on my body recently, I have still managed to do some pretty amazing things. I returned to work for about 7 months, I hiked from the south rim to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, spent a night at Phantom Ranch, and hiked back out the next day, and I finished up my private pilot’s license and passed my check ride.

I have had other opportunities actually because of this disease as well. I got to briefly meet Jai Pausch at a Network gala, in addition to getting all dressed up for a fun evening. I went to lobby days earlier this year, and I felt like I was more involved in our democracy than ever before. The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network organized the meetings and gave us a crash course on lobbying and I got to sit down with a few Members of Congress and tell them my story and push for more federal dollars to fight this disease. These are just a couple of the ways I have chosen to fight. Most of the time I try to fight by just living life, enjoying life, and cherishing every moment I get.

When I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, I was 25. Young, healthy, and asymptomatic. Now I am 28, in a fight against time, wondering what the future holds for me until a cure can be found.

Join with me, and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network—I believe that together we will find a cure.

Take Care and Live Strong,

Tyler