The couple had been married for 2 ½ years when Kevin received the diagnosis.

"He was a runner, a weight lifter, he ate an extremely healthy diet," said Lea. "He lived three years which is highly unusual, but there were so few treatment options for him and I had to push so hard with doctors to pay attention to his symptoms and find the cause — that’s why I became involved," she said.

Lea volunteers as the media representative for the Atlanta Chapter of PanCan, which started with about 30 people in June 2006.

"We now have an e-mail list of about 300 people that are interested in what we are doing," she said.

Kevin had experienced sharp pains that radiated from his left side into his shoulder. The pain was extremely debilitating and Lea took it upon herself to research his symptoms on the Internet.

"In three hours, a public relations coordinator with no medical experience, I decided that it was either an enlarged spleen or an inflamed pancreas," Lea explained.

As it turned out, Kevin had both.

Lea listed five tests that she felt were necessary in determining his diagnosis and the doctors performed them. Luckily, because of Lea’s industrious exploration, Kevin received an early diagnosis.

"Because I personally got on the Internet and researched this — my husband was diagnosed in six weeks," Lea said. "The average person with Pancreatic Cancer isn’t diagnosed for six months," she said.

Kevin had a tumor on his pancreas that was also pushing against his spleen.

Symptoms of Pancreatic Cancer can be vague and there is no early detection test like Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer have.

Lea says that in most cases by the time a person is diagnosed it’s too late. "The person’s chances of survival are lower … it has attacked the pancreas so much or it has already spread," she said.

Lea’s husband had surgery to remove half of his pancreas and his spleen. He also went through radiation and chemotherapy. His last attempt was an experimental treatment that left him radio-active for a week.

Although it slowed the cancer, doctors couldn’t keep it from coming back.

"Ultimately nothing saved him," said Lea. "My husband did everything he was supposed to do to keep from getting cancer — and he still died at 46 … We live in America. It’s unacceptable that we don’t have early detection tests for this and more treatment options. I’m volunteering because I want to see a change in my lifetime," said Lea.

PanCan’s public policy efforts have resulted in $48.5 million increase in funding for Pancreatic Cancer research from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) since PanCan was founded in 1999.

The organization has funded more than $1.7 million in Career Development Awards for research, serves more than 400 patients and families per month for free, works to revive enthusiasm and research in the fields of Science and healthcare for Pancreatic Cancer research, produced 40 fact sheets and three educational booklets, has a database of more than 100 clinical trials specifically for Pancreatic Cancer and has developed more than 85 volunteer affiliates educating communities and creating awareness about the disease.

Saturday, Nov. 15 marks the third Annual PurpleStride Atlanta 5K Walk and Run at Grant Park. Registration for the event can be found online at http://pancan.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=284819.

To walk or run, registration costs $20 for ages 12 and older and $10 for ages 6-11. Children under six are free.

For more information on the event e-mail Brittany Black at pancanatlevents@gmail.com or call (404) 414-8627.

"[Diagnosis] isn’t necessarily a death sentence," Lea said. "It’s not. There are survivors, but more research is needed … there are questions we need to be asking Congress and the National Cancer Institute. We need to tell Congress what we want to spend our tax dollars on. That’s part of what we (PanCan) do," she said. "If they hear from us, it makes a difference … We want people to know that we are here, there is hope and there are options – if we pull together we can make a difference."