dear steve and dawn: your story has given me hope, and i thank you so very much for sharing. my name is kate and i am 28-years-old. my mom of 61 years was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer on 7/7/04. the tumor is in the body of her pancreas and is surrounded by blood vessels. she also has two small lesions on her liver. before diagnosis, she just thought that she had strained a back muscle. she was just experiencing lower back pain, and before that, her stomach was acting up, but she just thought that it was her irritable bowel syndrome. when the surgeon conducted the biopsy, he gave my mom 1-2 years - our worlds crumbled. her oncologist, however, did not give her a death sentence like that, but gave her a positive attitude and so much hope. he wants to treat my mom's cancer as aggressively as possible. my mom has maintained an incredibly positive attitude and is so optimistic. she is going to fight this with all of her might. she looks great and does not look sick at all. she is still working and trying to beat this one day at a time. she is on her third week of Gemzar - she is doing seven straight weeks of Gemzar then a week off. It is a clinical trial that she is participating in. I want to thank you again for sharing your story, and god bless you both. many thanks and my very best to you, kate