Barely a year and five months ago, Sheila Kasselman received a devastating cancer diagnosis. And while it changed her life in ways you might expect, pancreatic cancer has also given the West Bloomfield resident a new passion as well.

Now Kasselman isn’t just fighting for her own life. She’s fighting for the lives of everyone affected by a cancer that has a higher mortality rate than almost every other form of the disease.

“I was sick for a year,” Kasselman recalled. “I was always very energetic, very healthy. But I started having problems with my stomach in December 2006, when I was away. I could only eat baked potatoes.”

Diagnosis difficult

Despite running a battery of tests, doctors found nothing wrong. And then in June of 2007, Kasselman began to lose weight, and it was weight she could not really afford to lose. A neurologist told her she had developed diabetes. She learned she had sludge in her gall bladder. But nothing really explained her symptoms. “I had test after test, and nothing was showing up.”

Finally, at the beginning of October 2007, her cancer showed up in tests. Because Kasselman’s cancer was caught early and had not yet metastasized to other organs, her doctors reversed the standard treatment protocol. She was given chemotherapy and radiation simultaneously before the cancer was surgically removed in January of 2008, with a Whipple surgery, and she did not receive follow-up treatment, so as not to destroy any more healthy cells. Her gastroenterologist, Dr. Ann Silverman, assembled a top-notch medical team at Henry Ford Hospital, and Kasselman felt enough confidence in them to resist the arguments her children made for more well-known cancer treatment centers around the country.

But Kasselman also credits another team, including an energy healer, her Pilates instructor, a therapist who specializes in treating cancer patients and a hospice nurse, with putting her on a path to recovery. Those four women stayed at her bedside throughout treatment, easing her physical pain and helping her hand onto a uniquely positive attitude.

Kasselman has learned that while her recovery is somewhat unique, the uncertain path to her diagnosis was not. The pancreas is a “hidden” organ, resting behind the stomach, and the symptoms of pancreatic cancer are often not recognized.

“People either ignore the symptoms, or the symptoms are so negligible, that they don’t notice,” she explained. “That’s why finding the early marker is so important.”

Search for a ‘marker’

Kasselman’s ordeal came at a time when she was preparing to retire, but when her doctor talked about the need to find a better way to detect pancreatic cancer, she found a new life’s purpose. With no background in creating a non-profit, she forged ahead and, over the past year, put together a board and advisory team. They’ve raised $60,000 toward a $500,000 endowment that will put researchers at the Karmanos Cancer Center to work in earnest on early detection, expected to improve the odds for survival five-fold. Currently, only five percent survive five years after their initial diagnosis.

While pancreatic cancer hasn’t garnered as much attention as breast, cervical, lung and other cancers, recent revelations about high profile figures like Patrick Swayze and Ruth Bader Ginsburg have brought more attention to it. Sad as it might seem, that kind of attention translates into more research dollars and charitable contributions in a tough economy. And those dollars may make it possible for more patients like Kasselman to survive even longer.

“I know I’m beating the odds,” she said. “I know every day is a gift, and every day, I tell my story to someone. I tell anybody who is willing to listen. The only hope we have of finding an early marker is not being afraid to talk about it.”

Sky Foundation

Currently, the Sky Foundation, named in tribute to Kasselman’s family, supports the work of Michael J. Tainsky, Ph.D., the Barbara and Fred Erb Endowed Professor Cancer Genetics and Professor Pathology, Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University. Dr. Tainsky explains that his blood screening technology will look for certain antibodies in a patient’s serum because research indicates that cancers are viewed by the immune system as foreign entities. Cancers present proteins that the body’s immune system recognizes as foreign the same way it recognizes an invading virus. These antibodies, while they tolerate the cancer, can be used as a ‘bio-sensor.’ The screening test, then, involves profiling the serum in cancer patients and examining the antibodies.

Kasselman said Steven P. Dudas, Ph.D. will be the project leader for the research program to identify circulating biomarkers for pancreatic cancer at the Karmanos Cancer Institute. Dr. Dudas, a Research Associate in the Program in Molecular Biology and Genetics, joined the research team of Dr. Tainsky in 2006. His primary research interests have focused on the development of an early detection assay for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal cancers, in particular colon cancer.

The Sky Foundation is also supported by volunteers. Currently, Kasselman said, the foundation has public relations and fund-raising committees. She welcomes anyone, especially those who have had personal experience with pancreatic cancer, to join in their efforts. In addition, any and all donations, no matter the size, are being accepted through the foundation’s Web site, www.skyfoundationinc.org.

Kasselman is also available to speak with anyone about the foundation or about her own personal experience with cancer. She said that she often talks with people, especially those who are newly diagnosed and their families. Her passion drives her to do whatever she can to spread the word about early detection and the hope for a cure, to the point where one of her doctors nominated her for the Detroit News Michiganian of the Year award.

“You have to be hopeful with this disease. You never say you’re ‘cured,’ Kasselman said. “What’s really important is that we find this early marker, so we have a shot. This is Detroit-driven, everything we’re doing has been in this city. I think this is an incredible city and a generous city.”

“I just feel so lucky,” she adds.

Written by Joni Hubred-Golden