Help Sindy raise money

Hi I’m Sindy - a mom of two amazing boys, married to the most incredible man on earth, and stage 4 pancreatic cancer survivor. 

11 years ago I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I had none of the risk factors and no family history of cancer. Since my diagnosis I’ve had 3 big gastrointestinal surgeries, 45 rounds of chemotherapy, 33 days of radiation, too many CT scans and MRI’s to count. During that time I also ran the Boston marathon, competed in three world championship triathlons, and completed two Ironmans. 

Pancreatic cancer is a bad cancer to get. Average survival is only 6 months. The 5 year survival rate is only 10%. Despite this pancreatic cancer gets very little funding for research. There are few survivors to champion fundraising. I wanted to give back; raise awareness and much needed funds for pancreatic cancer. So, in the last 9 years I’ve shared my story and led running teams to raise money. My team is called MEMC Crew (Make Every Moment Count) and we’ve raised $437,000 for cancer research. 

Unfortunately, in September 2022, after 10 years of my cancer being in remission, it spread to my lung, spine and one rib. I entered stage 4 pancreatic cancer and doctors said I had (realistically) one year to live. I went onto “chemotherapy for life” which is very tough to handle, physically and mentally. 

September 2023 I reached that one year survival but the cancer in my left lung pleura started to spread, causing a very large effusion that we're now trying to manage with a PleurX catheter and oral chemotherapy. New prognosis is 6 months, which (devastatingly) means that I likely won't be around for the 2024 Ottawa Race Weekend. BUT I can still build my team and try to reach $500,000 raised for pancreatic cancer research. 

Pancreatic cancer has the 3^rd highest number of cancer deaths each year in Canada, yet it remains severely underfunded. Perhaps this is because pancreatic cancer patients don’t live long enough to advocate for the disease. There is no early detection method and there is no effective treatment. The 5 year survival rate of 10% is the lowest by far of all major cancers; lung cancer is 22%, colorectal 67%, breast 89%, prostate 91%. 

I truly do live each day with gratitude and do my best to make every moment count. What helps keep me going is the tremendous amount of love and support I've received over the last 11 years from my family, friends and community. Being a cancer survivor has taught me that this fight is not only about me .... it's about giving back. I’ve been very public about what I’ve been going through, trying to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer, hope for other survivors, and encouraging everyone to make every moment count. Also very important to me is raising money for cancer research ...... being part of a movement that will ultimately help find a cure or (at the very least) effective treatments for those of us with pancreatic cancer. 

I am asking for your help to take a moment and give from your heart to help find better treatments for pancreatic cancer (which would also extend to other cancers), to give people hope of surviving this devastating cancer. Every dollar that you give ensures that researchers at The Ottawa Hospital can continue working to improve outcomes for cancer patients like myself. 

If you'd like to join our team or donate, please find the links below (just off to the right). If you would like to contact me, please email sindyhoop@gmail.com

From the bottom of my heart ….. thank you. 

Make every moment count!

Sindy