Hazen Coach Hopes To Pin Pancreatic Cancer With Awareness Match

Rodney Magana had a front row seat to watch his son, Rory Magana, coach the Hazen Highlanders wrestling team last year against Oak Harbor (Rory’s alumni).

“It was great to have him there, for years he was my coach and I sat next to him as a player,” said Rory. “It was special for me knowing what challenges his was facing.”

Rodney was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in October 2010 and would pass away at the age of 55 on June 18, 2011.

To mark the one-year anniversary of that special night, Rory is expanding what was a double-dual meet into a Pancreatic Cancer Awareness night with . Donations will be accepted at the door with all proceeds going directly to National Cancer Institute’s Pancreatic Cancer fund.

The night will include two wrestling matches at the same time, along with information booths, a bake sale and a guest speaker before the meet.

Rory says “Pancreatic Cancer has seen no improvements in the survival rate in the last 40 years. Only 2 percent of the national Cancer Institute’s funding goes directly to Pancreatic cancer, which is the fourth leading cause of cancer death.”

If your not able to attend you can donate directly to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network website www.pancan.org

Facts on Pancreatic Cancer:

• It’s the 10th most commonly diagnosed cancer, but the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

• Of all the cancers tracked by both the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute, pancreatic cancer is the only one with a relative five-year survival rate in the single digits: Ninety-four percent of patients die within five years of diagnosis and 74 percent die within one year.

• Today, only a few risk factors for pancreatic cancer are known. More research is needed to understand their direct relationship to the disease. Further complicating matters, no early detection methods are available and most symptoms are vague and could be attributed to many different conditions.

• Symptoms include pain (usually abdominal or back pain), weight loss, jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes), loss of appetite, nausea, changes in stool and diabetes.

• The disease is often diagnosed in late stages because of the pancreas’ location in the body, the absence of definitive symptoms, and the lack of early detection methods. In fact, 52 percent of patients are diagnosed when they have advanced (metastatic) disease that has already spread to other organs.