Hero Story: Jerry
My dad, Jerry Samuels, is my hero. He has valiantly persevered in fighting pancreatic cancer since July 2009. It is simply extraordinary how much he has continued in the face of this illness. Jerry, jazz pianist and music educator extraordinaire, has continued what he has been doing for decades in passing on the gift of his expertise and love for music in regular piano lessons. He has proceeded to ceaselessly learn and master new music, continuing to create and entertain--from two-year-olds to octogenarians. He has persisted physically by continuing workouts at the gym and packing in as many calories as he possibly can. He remarkably does this all with a laugh and a smile--signs of his trademark positive, upbeat spirit.
Our team of heroes starts with my mom and the incredible care she has given for over a year, my sister Amy and her family, all our family and friends in Dallas and around the world, and of course the angels at hospital who have saved Dad’s life with the Whipple procedure and kept him going through chemo and radiation.
Pancreatic cancer is the ONLY major cancer with a five-year survival rate still in the single digits at just 6%. With your help, we can change this deadly statistic.
