November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, a time for us to celebrate the survivors and honor loved ones fighting this disease. It is also an opportunity to continue to raise awareness and pancreatic cancer. 

Pancreatic cancer is widely known as the world’s toughest cancer. In 2019, it is expected to claim an estimated 46,000 lives in the U.S. — 770 of those in Alabama. 

Last year, I became one of the millions of Americans who has lost a loved one to pancreatic cancer when my dear friend, Giles Perkins, lost his life to this terrible disease. Giles fought pancreatic cancer for almost three years, and during this time he continued to serve as a successful attorney, community leader, devoted father and husband. I will forever be grateful for his friendship and his dedication to Alabama.  

Like all cancers, the earlier you catch pancreatic cancer, the better your odds of survival are. Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer is very difficult to identify in its early stages and most patients present few early-stage symptoms. Currently, there are no early detection test for the disease and it has one of the lowest survival rates of any cancer. Less than nine-percent of patients will survive five years after their initial diagnosis. 

As with most diseases, research is critical to improving our understanding and fight against pancreatic cancer. Since coming to the Senate, I’ve advocated for increased funding for the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, as well as for dedicated pancreatic cancer research funding for the Department of Defense’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. Given pancreatic cancer’s significant impact and dismal survival rate, it is so critical we direct dollars toward research. And just this past week, I convened a field hearing at UAB on pancreatic cancer as part of my duties on the Senate Special Committee on Aging, where witnesses testified about their loved ones' fight against the disease and urgent need to invest in finding a cure.

By investing in efforts to develop better treatments and diagnostics, I am as hopeful as ever that we will ultimately find a cure for pancreatic cancer. With all of the cutting-edge research being done here in Alabama and around the country, we all have a lot of reasons to be optimistic.