![]() In fact, there is a “war room” at the Medical Center’s nationally recognized “center for excellence” in research and treatment of pancreatic cancer. Those wishing to join the UNMC study should call 1-40 or email Just over 50,000 people die each year due to the disease. Pancreatic cancer accounts for only about 3% of all cancers, but 7% of the deaths, according to the American Cancer Society. “I can’t go and kill pancreatic cancer - this is the best way I can do it,” Geis said. This is like war, he said, and the Geis family - and others involved in the study - are all in. One of her brothers, Al Geis of Gilbert, Arizona, a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, was more blunt. ![]() “We can’t bring her back, but we can help other people,” she said. “This is the best way to honor Suzanne’s memory,” said a younger sister, Barb Jacobsen of Minden. So Kolterman’s siblings and her daughter are doing what they can, trekking to the Med Center and joining nearly 700 participants in the Early Detection in Pancreas Cancer Study. In back, from left, are Ron Geis, Al Geis and Doug Geis. Relatives of Suzanne Kolterman participating in the pancreatic cancer study are, front from left: Barb Jacobsen, Jessica Kolterman and Becky Wright. However, she survived 18 months and was able to spend valuable time with her husband, former State Sen. Doctors gave her only six months to live by the time she experienced symptoms and was diagnosed in 2016. Geis’ oldest sister, Suzanne Kolterman of Seward, was among the unlucky victims of pancreatic cancer. Right now, there’s no way to tell if someone has the deadly cancer - which has only a 10% survival rate after five years - until it’s often too late for potentially life-saving surgery. The goal: to help researchers discover an early sign, an early “marker,” for pancreatic cancer. Up to twice a year, he and his siblings - from as far away as Arizona and Illinois - converge at the University of Nebraska Medical Center to provide a blood sample and answer a few questions about any unusual symptoms they might be experiencing. “I’m the good patient - I have a good vein,” joked Doug Geis, a linebacker-sized Army veteran from Leavenworth, Kansas, as he sat in the donor chair. OMAHA - In a nondescript room inside the massive Buffett Cancer Center, five brothers and sisters took turns last week donating blood to help unlock a medical mystery.
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