The Delta Flyers - PANCAN with Armin, Kitty, Frakes, Billingsley, and Juan Carlos

Episode Date: November 6, 2023

The Delta Flyers is a weekly podcast hosted by Garrett Wang & Robert Duncan McNeill. This week’s episode is a special interview with Kitty Swink, Armin Shimerman, Jonathan Frakes, John Billingsley, and Juan Carlos Coto as they discuss their connections to pancreatic cancer and pancan.orgTo support Team Trek, visit: purplestride.org/teamtrekWe want to thank everyone who makes this podcast possible, starting with our Executive producers Megan Elise & Rebecca McNeillAnd a special thanks to our Ambassadors, the guests who keep coming back, giving their time and energy into making this podcast better and better with their thoughts, input, and inside knowledge: Lisa Klink, Martha Hackett, Robert Picardo, Ethan Phillips, Robert Beltran, Tim Russ, Roxann Dawson, Kate Mulgrew, Brannon Braga, Bryan Fuller, John Espinosa, & Ariana DelbarAdditionally we could not make this podcast available without our Co-Executive Producers: Stephanie Baker, Liz Scott, Eve England, Sab Ewell, Sarah A Gubbins, Jason M Okun, Luz R., Marie Burgoyne, Kris Hansen, Chris Knapp, Janet K Harlow, Utopia Science Fiction Magazine, Matthew Gravens, Brian Barrow, Captain Jeremiah Brown, Heidi Mclellan, Rich Gross, Mary Jac Greer, John Espinosa, E, Deike Hoffmann, Mike Gu, Anna Post, Shannyn Bourke, Vikki Williams, Jenna Appleton, Lee Lisle, Sarah Thompson, Samantha Hunter, Holly Smith, Amy Tudor, KMB, Dominic Burgess, Lori Tharpe, Mary Burch, AJC, Nicholaus Russell, Lisa Robinson, Normandy Madden, Joseph Michael Kuhlman, Darryl Cheng, Alex Mednis, Elizabeth Stanton, Kayla Knilans, Tim Beach, Victor Ling, Shambhavi Kadam, Holly Schmitt, James H. Morrow, Christopher Arzeberger, Tae Phoenix, Donna Runyon, Nicholas Albano, Roxane Ray, Daniel O’Brien, Bronwen Duffield, Andrew Duncan, David Buck, Danie Crofoot, Ian Ramsey, Feroza Mehta, Jonathan Brooks, Gemma Laidler, Rob Traverse, Penny Liu, Mars DeVore, Matt Norris, Stephanie Lee, David Smith, & Matt BurchAnd our Producers:Philipp Havrilla, James Amey, Patrick Carlin, Richard Banaski, Ann Harding, Ann Marie Segal, Samantha Weddle, Chloe E, Carole Patterson, Warren Stine, Jocelyn Pina, Mike Schaible, AJ Provance, Captain Nancy Stout, Claire Deans, Maxine Soloway, Barbara Beck, Species 2571, Mary O'Neal, Dat Cao, Scott Lakes, Stephen Riegner, Debra Defelice, Tara Polen, Cindy Ring, Alicia Kulp, Kelly Brown, Jason Wang, Gabriel Dominic Girgis, Jamason Isenburg, Mark G Hamilton, Ashley Stokey, Rob Johnson, Maria Rosell, Heather Choe, Michael Bucklin, Lisa Klink, Dominique Weidle, Jennifer Jelf, Louise Storer, Justin Weir, Mike Chow, Kevin Hooker, Aaron Ogitis, Ryan Benoit, Megan Chowning, Rachel Shapiro, Captain Jak Greymoon, Clark Ochikubo, David J Manske, Amy Rambacher, Jessica B, E.G. Galano, Will Forg, Charlie Faulkner, Estelle Keller, Russell Nemhauser, Lawrence Green, Christian Koch, Lisa Gunn, Lauren Rivers, Shane Pike, Jennifer B, Dean Chew, Akash Patel, Jennifer Vaughn, Cameron Wilkins, Michael Butler, Ken McCleskey, Walkerius Logos, Abby Chavez, Preston Meyer, Lisa Hill, Benjamin Bulfer, Stacy Davis, & Mary JenkinsThank you for your support!“Our creations are protected by copyright, trademark and trade secret laws. Some examples of our creations are the text we use, artwork we create, audio, and video we produce and post. You may not use, reproduce, distribute our creations unless we give you permission. If you have any questions, you can email us at [e-mail].”Our Sponsors:* Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/TDFSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-delta-flyers/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

My name is John Billingsley, a.k.a. Dr. Phil Flock's from Enterprise. I am with these fabulous people, all from the Star Trek community. We have one thing in common. Our lives have been touched by the dreaded disease, pancreatic cancer. We'd like to introduce ourselves, tell you a little bit about what brings us together and a wonderful organization called PAMCAM that we would like you to support. And now I'm going to turn it over to the sexiest person here in Swain. Oh! I am a 20-year survivor of pancreatic cancer. That's why we're all here.

Yeah. Hope. And that's unusual, and I'm really lucky. The guy who got me through it, my husband, Armand Shimmerman. Thank you, Kitty. You're welcome, honey. I'm here to honor Kitty's struggle, the struggle of all my friends around the table,

the struggle of many of you out there. Let's stop it in its tracks now. Well done. My name's Jonathan Frakes. My brother, Daniel Frakes, died at 41. What we're trying to do with Pankan.org is raise money to improve awareness and increase research money. So please help us, Pancan.org Backslash Team Trek.

I'd also like to introduce the newest member of our Trek team, Juan Carlos Goldow. Thanks, Jonathan. My brother Mani Kodo passed away from pancreatic cancer. Mani was the executive producer of Star Trek Enterprise during season four, and he believed very much in the principles of Star Trek, a bright future in which man coexists with civilizations

from all over the universe and pushes forward. Mani's belief in Star Trek, I think, is what we're trying to do pancreatic cancer the future is often not bright for people with the disease but we're here to change that my mother passed away at the age of 70 from diagnosis to death two months because a pan can people are living longer with this disease than ever before people are surviving Hey, everyone, welcome to the Delta Flyers. And before we start this episode, I just want to say we have an incredible group of fellow actors from this franchise we've all worked on.

We love them to death. We do. But they want to send you to a website for pancreatic cancer. but they give the wrong website address constantly. Now, Kitty Swink, who is one of our guests, clearly is the smartest of the gang because she gave the correct web address for where you need to go for pancreatic cancer

to support Team Trek. She gave the correct address. So, Robbie, what is the correct address to go to, please? The correct address to donate for Team Trek and Pancreatic Cancer Research is Purple Straw. dot org backslash team trek don't listen to those other boys only listen to kitty swank and us right now and we'll remind you as we go along we will all right everyone welcome to get another episode of the delta flyers and this week we have look at this illustrious panel we have we're all here

to talk about the pancreatic cancer action network and let's talk about all of our distinguished panel panelese, John Billingsley, Armand Shimmerman, Kitty Swink, Jonathan Franks, Juan Carlos Cotto, Robbie McNeil and myself hosting, of course. So welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome, guys.

What doesn't everyone just talk about their involvement in this one-by-one, their story? Shall we start with John? And then we'll move around clockwise. Go ahead. Sure. I would ultimately defer to Kitty and Armand because they're the ones who brought all of us together. Yes.

But we all have had our lives touched by pancreatic. cancer. My mother passed away in 1990 from diagnosis to death two months. Wow. Complaining of stomach issues, back problems. It never entered our mind. It never entered any the doctor's minds that it could possibly be pancreatic cancer. They didn't do the necessary test. By the time it was discovered, it was too late. And one of the reasons that Kitty and Arman's story so interested me is because they've had such great success at actually increasing the survivability rate and because of the work they do.

do and because of the awareness that has been spread through our work with Pankan, people are living longer and recognizing early detection matters. So that's what brings me to the table with these wonderful people. Thank you. Jonathan Frakes. Hi. My wonderful brother Daniel, who was actually the cute one, he died at 41. He turned yellow. We took him to the hospital. they opened him up and they looked and they closed him up and they said he's got six months to live now he had a young brand new daughter and a wife and he was uh he was the best man of my wedding to give you some idea of what our relationship was like so and at this point there were there was a four percent surviving rate kitty who is our vision of hope knew

the story of my brother and asked me to join the uh the team if you will team trek and she has survived for 20 years after having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer so kitty's hope kiddie's vision of hope kitty's presence kitty's spirit is why i've joined and why we all continue so um in daniel's memory i have joined and i've never been more involved in a charity that i've participated in. And obviously, every time I think about Daniel, I smile and I cry. And it's a kind of a wonderful combination of emotion. And I get to share time with all of these wonderful people. We have a new team member, Juan Carlos Cota. Yes. Thank you. Let's go on. Carlos. I'm here because of my brother, Mani, who a lot of track fans will know, ran Star Trek Enterprise

in season four. He was a writer, producer, director. He was a writer, producer, He passed away three months ago, July 9th, this year, diagnosed 13 months prior. His, his pancreatic cancer presented as diabetes, which is important sort of for early detection a lot of times because the pancreas controls insulin and other enzymes and stuff, it presented as that first, and that's how they found it. But Manny, you know, believed in Star Trek and Manny, you know, introduced me to Star Trek. And I'm a writer-producer director because of him, basically. You know, I was the PA on his Super 8th as a kid.

And he just introduced me to the show and everything. And in dealing with his passing, recently, I found out about Pancan and about the Star Trek connection. And I just had to be a part of it to help in any way I could. Awesome. Let's bring it to Armin and Kitty now. I'll like T. to go first. Hi, everybody.

I, in 2000, end of 2003, beginning of 2004, I kept losing weight. I had lower back pain. We didn't know what was going on. I just thought I was under a lot of pressure. Our friend, Cessley Adams, who a lot of Star Trek fans know as Mugie, was dying of lung cancer, and I was worrying about her, and my father had Alzheimer's, and I was worried about him. And so I just assumed I was going through a lot of stress. And in the end of February of 2004, I was sitting in Cessley's hospital room, and her childhood nanny said to me,

don't worry about her, worry about yourself. And I came home and said that to Armin. And he said, why don't you listen to her? And I called my doctor, and she had a freak opening the next day. Somebody canceled right as I was calling. And I went in. They said, well, you probably have acid reflux, but let's do some tests. Over the weekend, my urine turned brown.

On Monday, we were at a funeral for a friend's son, who was 25 years old. And when I came home, there was a message from my doctor. saying go to the hospital right now your kidneys and your liver are shutting down and 17 days later i came out of cedar cyanide missing half my stomach half my pancreas two feet of my intestines my gallbladder and 28 lymph nodes and i am the luckiest woman alive i had a 4% chance of making it five years and here i am it'll be 20 years on the 3rd of march since my surgery and i'm still here so i think it's my to help other people still be here and for their families to have hope. So that's why I'm here. And then when Charlotte Ray, who was like my spiritual grandmother, was diagnosed, she introduced me

to Pankan and we would go to Orange County and speak at events for them. And then Pancan asked me a few years ago to join the team and Armin came on and I called, I saw actually Jonathan at a party at the Marina Sertes's house and said, well, you join and then we asked John and now we have one Carlos. So it's it's really a team that's growing and we're so proud of it. We're so happy. And the reason why I'm really alive aside from great doctors is him. Oh, him, him, him, him. Um, thank you. I'm not quite sure that's true. You had support from a wonderful medical team and from great friends who all bucked you up when you were at your lowest. But why am I here? I'm here to honor all the people who have suffered with this. disease whether it's the patients or the families I'm here to honor those who have

survived like kitty and there's quite a few others as well now I'm here also to make sure that less and less people have to suffer through this what we've heard from everybody here on the panel is that this disease shows up at the last moment and by the time the doctors have finally diagnosed it is usually a little late there are There are procedures, as Jonathan said, about opening people up. It's called the Whipple. And that's how Kitty lost all of her organs. But it saved her life.

But it saved your life. And that's what Pankan is trying to do. It's not only to help patients and their families, which is enormously important. And they do a lot of that. But also they're here to instruct doctors to look for these signs, because as I said, Usually when the symptoms present themselves, it's a little late. Look for them early. Try to, you know, let it be part of your physical examination.

We need to do this. This is the way that we can increase the survivability rate. As Jonathan and Katie Both said, it was a 4% survival rate when they were inflicted by this disease. Now it's 12%. That's a huge, huge increase in survivability. It's still low. 12% is nothing to brag about but it is quadruple I got the numbers right it's triple the survivability who's the math guy so much for the Ferengi uh um it's really

important that people do as i am doing honoring those around us and helping helping uh we are helping but by not only contributing but also by getting the word out we don't want people to to get disease and the only way to avoid it the only way to fight it is to get early diagnosis it's aware a really awareness is the word right i mean so i think tomorrow it starts right pancreatic cancer awareness month is november 1st and it's just about yeah it's just about being aware it sounds like a silly word but it's true doctors being aware families being aware you know diabetes was not a you know the doctor his doctor was aware and said you know it could be more so i think it's sort of about you know just putting it out there and having it out there in the conversation you know yeah it's

also time to find some markers that seems to be the uh what the money that we're putting towards research or the pan can is putting towards research is uh in addition to funding doctors interest in their continuing research they need to find markers that are specific and easy to detect so that when you go to your physical your annual physical which we all hope everyone does there's some tests that will in fact let them know and you need to tell your doctor and there isn't there isn't it there's not a test right now for this that could be done like that that's incredible only after you present after you present then of course you could but but as jonathan said we need markers to before you present before you show something before you turn the other there are tumor markers

you can you can they can look for but they don't generally look for them because it's a difficult process and not usually helpful, but there are things that you should know if you get diabetes out of the clear blue sky, as happened to Manny. If it runs in your family, Ashkenazi Jews are more likely to have it. In the United States, sadly, the black population is badly underdiagnosed. There's things that you can do. And if it runs in your family, get genetic testing. If you have health insurance, they will pay for genetic testing if it runs in your family. And if your doctor is ignorant of this, and there are lots of doctors that are ignorant,

please call Pankan. Pancan direct you towards medical facilities and doctors that can better diagnosis, can better help you. If you want a second opinion, they're a great place to go to get that second opinion from somebody who is knowledgeable in this particular cancer. There's also, I'm sorry, one more thing about PANC. And there's an incredible support network inside, including Kitty, among others, for families who are in the midst of going through this. And that's as impressive as the research and the doctors because the people who run this organization really give a shit and they are really, really helpful.

No, I mean, this disease doesn't just take lives. It kind of shatters lives. I mean, Manny left behind his wife and four kids, you know, little man he's 14. And he's got 12-year-old daughter and twin nine-year-old daughters. And, you know, they lost their dad very young. And it's, you know, Pankan's there for them and for everyone, you know. And to piggyback on what one Carlos just said, if your family has an instance of pancreatic cancer,

please, please, the rest of the family need to go in and get checked because it can be genetic. And so I recommend to anyone who's been touched by this disease, Go to your doctor, say my brother, my mother, my uncle, my sister, my brother. If they have suffered, have yourself checked because that's early detection. A few things that I'd like to bring up. One, I'd love to hear you guys talk a bit, Kitty and Armand, about the organization itself, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, and how you heard about them and the work they do,

how long they've been around, how they came to start. But I also wanted to bring up the topic of what, we actually do together, which is raise money to help this money. Ah. Ah. That's segue. Yes, yes, yes. You broached the subject.

I have been fundraising for the Hollywood Food Coalition for the last seven years, and I've learned something very valuable. Don't bury the lead. Well, before you guys, jump into that, my quick question is, so it's not necessarily genetic, correct? It can... It had no one in her family had pancreatic cancer that we know that they may not have checked.

People may have died, but we don't know of anybody in the swing family that had pancreatic. I do think there's some genetic, not that they know because they don't have all the markers yet, but about 10% of the people who are diagnosed have a genetic connection. However, my grandmother, who had my father's mother who had breast cancer and was diabetic, and I had breast cancer in my 30s and ended up with pancreatic cancer. So even though there's not a connection, a genetic connection that they know of now, I suspect at some point. Yeah, my grandmother had breast cancer and my father had stomach cancer.

So it's in my family for sure. So yeah, if it's anywhere in your family, it's advisable for sure. Yeah, and breast cancer, ovarian cancer are both related to pancreatic cancer. in sort of a more to my less than scientific brain, I'm an actor after all, I understand that there's a sort of an amorphous connection between those. If you have the Brackam mutation, which I do not have, which is usually what tells people that you have a genetic marker for breast cancer, it can also be a marker for pancreatic cancer. Okay.

Now can you answer John's question about your association and how you first found out about pancreatic cancer action network what year did that start let me finish my thought go ahead john go two thoughts one kick that over but we are together because we form a team that raises money for an event that is held in the spring called purple stride so although this is pancreatic cancer awareness month there is actually an event that people can participate in by either walking or sponsoring we who walk or perhaps bringing folks into the fold by becoming champions or striding yeah right and where does this i walk i actually stroll purple stroll it's on the 27th of april 27th of april 27th of april on the pier right on sanmonic bear start

it's in 60 60 cities around the country is it purple stride dot com is it how do you how do you find out about this.org.org. Purplstride.org.com. Team track. You guys have your own little. Team track. We're team. We're team. I know. I get it. I get it. And we have a big goal this year. Our goal this year is to raise $125,000. So, and should we, what do you think, guys? Should we announce our first big? Well, you've already opened Pandora's box. Go ahead. Oh, yeah. Go ahead, Kitty. Okay. And I have to really credit the lovely and talented John Billingsley. The Roddenberry Foundation has very graciously given us $30,000 towards our $125,000. Wow. Wow. So I want to really thank Rod and Heidi and the whole foundation.

It's extraordinary what they've done. And we have a couple of other big foundation gifts coming our way. So feel free to match it. The Robbie McNeil Foundation, I think they do amazing work. It's an amazing work. You're not going to let Ron one up you. It is small contributions that put us over. And this work is very important. We have to educate people.

We have to raise that mortality rate from 12% to 100%. And I'd like to see it done in my lifetime, and I don't have much time left. So let's get those donations in. Again, go to Pankan.org and to contribute to our team. It's backslash Team Trek. Team Trek. Hold on. No, that is wrong.

It's Purplestride.org Backslash Team Trek. And you can start your own subteam and be part of our team and you can walk with us. We had a bunch of people walk with us last year. It was fabulous. Oh, that sounds awesome. And you got a cool purple t-shirt. I have to also thank all my friends and family who donated in Manny's name,

which I said, you know, I raised 15K. I didn't, but my friends and family raised 15K after he passed the Star Trek community. I mean, there was such an outpouring from the community. It was tremendous. And that's really one of the big reasons I'm here as well because, again, I discovered the connection just in the in the throws and the insanity of the disease and you know how it's all a blur, right, when you lose someone like that. And in going online and announcing he had passed and all I found out about the Action Network. And it's been incredible. And I think all those connections just help you know and there's a whole for me there's a whole thing about

star trek and hope and the future that i think is is important here you know that we also shouldn't lose sight of it's um i mean it's in part why we're here right and and uh yeah one one one thing that i think of as you're as you're sharing this um and and just listening to all of your stories my mother died of breast cancer at 39 years old because of late detection and i remember i I can relate to that feeling when you lose somebody suddenly and with a late diagnosis and, you know, breast cancer is much more easy to detect than pancreatic cancer with a 12% survival rate is just, it's horrible. It's shocking to me.

I didn't know, I don't know a lot about this disease. But I know the experience of losing someone and feeling alone and feeling isolated and the chaos, the domino effect that it has on families like you're talking about and having a group like you guys to connect people and support the families and the and the patients. And it feels like so much a part of what Star Trek has meant to me in my life. The fact that we're all sitting here after we've been on these shows 20, 30 years ago, and we're still sitting here. We're still connected.

And we're still supporting each other. I love what you're doing. I just want to honor that. and say that this is really important, staying connected, staying involved. The Star Trek fans have been incredible for decades in helping things like this. And I really love what you're doing. And I think this, like Juan Carlos, like you said, Star Trek is about connecting and humanity and hope and supporting each other and just a positive outlook. And I think that what you're doing is incredible.

and it's also in wanting to talk about the the pancreatic cancer action network the vehicle through which you know fundraising occurs is always so critical i mean there are a billion not-for-profits in the world and somebody who's been involved in working with a not-for-profit for a number of years i think it's always really important that people understand when they're donating money if they're going to donate money the the the mechanism by which that money goes to help people is is critical and i i in my short association, have really come to have an enormous respect and affection for this particular organization, how they function and the great scope of actions they take. And that's why I kind of want to make sure that they get their due and are explained. You're best equipped to do that,

I think, if you don't mind. Yes, Pam, who started this organization several years ago, many years ago, lost someone. Her mother. And she had no one to go to. It's the very thing that Robbie's talking about. She had no one to go to, and she realized that there needed to be someplace for people to go. And she has done an extraordinary job of building this organization into a national organization. That's why there are walks. There are Purple Stride walks in 60 cities. There probably will be more in the years to come. I know a couple years ago, I walked in Kansas City. There were thousands of people in Kansas City were walking with me. I have to say what she did the first year is she thought,

well, there's a lot of people here in Hollywood, and she got a bunch of people to come to a fancy dinner that were famous, and they got the ball rolling, and then the organization just grew and grew and grew and grew until it became the premier funder of research and the place that people can go to get, information and help patient and family services off the charts. I send people at least once a week. I get a phone call saying, I know somebody goes pancreatic cancer. Will you talk to them? And the first thing I do is I say, call Pancan. Call PAN. And just because I have it at hand, and I'm going to garble it if I don't read it. Since 2003 awarded 236 grants,

217 scientists at 78 institutions, working in partnership, have invested 208, million to date. And none of us are scientists. So to talk about, you know, nanobble technology is actually beyond my capacity. But, you know, in any particular kind of cancer research, it is about how you funnel money into the folks who are actually trying to figure out how to cure. And I think they are playing in addition to raising patient awareness, doctor awareness, in addition to finding ways to spread the word through some really creative fundraising

mechanisms. They're getting the money to the scientists. And I think they also did this thing that I find so extraordinary that I have to share it with you. For a long time, if you were in a trial and you were not getting good results, you had to stay in that trial or just drop out, but you couldn't move to a different trial. And they went and they got a bunch of other organizations to come with them and they went to the FDA and said, stop this. If somebody is not succeeding in a trial allow them to move to a new drug trial and they got the rule changed so people are surviving on that idea alone it's it's an off the charts seems like such a simple thing to do but that's the kind of strategic thinking that the people at pan can succeed at and i'm so proud to

work with them and we all we all have the sort of like uh you know lobbyists but you know there are lobbyists and then they're lobbyists they've lobbied our government and through the NIH have raised from 17 million to 203 million over the arc of the years wow and if i mean i just want to reiterate something that is sort of getting passed over and it isn't but i i want to reiterate it which is this it's not just about the patients and the doctors it's about the families that surround them as well um manny was told about a hand can it Pankan has a tremendous support system for the families because as a caregiver, which I was when Kitty was diagnosed, the caregiver is at odds about what to do, how to help, who to reach out to, you know, what are the newest technologies.

Pancan has that information. We'll help you. We'll take you under their wing and say, okay, this is what you can do in order so that you as a caregiver can better succeed as well. because as Juan Carlos was saying, we don't know what to do when that diagnosis comes for our loved one. We don't know. We're suddenly, all we've ever heard of pancreatic cancer is of its mortality rate and how many people it's taking. There are survivors and there are people you can go to. And Pankan will direct you and the family to those people. And so there are great supports us. Well, it sounds so amazing.

Pankan and this advocacy and research group, it sounds like all of you have had direct experience with this disease and you've found them to be really effective. And that's not always true of every, like Billingsley was saying. They didn't exist when my mother was diagnosed. Yeah. We had no clue at all. It sounds incredibly effective in multiple ways, the lobbying, the research, the family support. But as you say, Armand, you mentioned, it takes a lot of people.

It takes a lot of money. And every little dollar adds up. And what's amazing about the Trek community is there are millions of fans around the world that are Star Trek fans to have you guys doing this work and getting the information out to them. If just a little bit from all these people adds up, even though Armand's not a good mathematician. On stream. I'm telling you, okay, it will add up to a lot of money, Herman. I'm not good at math either, but I know you can get a lot of money

if a lot of people donate just a little bit. It's not just us. I mean, unfortunately, there are a lot of celebrities who have, I mean, Patrick Swayce comes to mind, a dear sweet Patrick Swayze. Lisa, his wife, has an entire other team. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has a whole following. I mean, you don't want to name drop victims of pancreatic cancer but you're wrong for you last week yeah so who was that sorry kitty i missed your roundtree

died last week yeah yeah we um go ahead i'm sorry johnny no no i just wanted to throw that in that it's not just the trek families that have right multiple teams going on yeah which is great we need that arman and jonathan and i on the star trek cruise last year did a breakfast now they they only sold 60 seats. They sold them out in two minutes. Wow. Yeah. I swear to God, they sold them out in two minutes. And it was because so many people on that boat had been touched by this disease. Wow. I'd say 40 of the 60 people who came to have breakfast with us had either had the disease, had lost a family member to disease, or a friend of the disease. It was it was hopeful and exciting and, you know, it's the best of what's

Star Trek is. They love science. They love the future. They love helping people. It's, it was, I was moved to tears several times during that breakfast. And we left a lot. And if I may just take this moment to all the people that had helped in the past, all the people that have contributed, all the people that have walked, all the people that have taken advantage of what Pankan has to offer, I from the bottom of my heart say thank you. Thank you so much. same so this this is pancreatic cancer awareness month in november yeah so what can people do this month what is special about this month that we can support and get involved is there anything and increase awareness an increase awareness what can we do what can the start trick community do well i i personally

think one of the things that i would like to do is to say this is sort of the beginning of our campaign and it culminates with the walk in April. So you visit our site. And if you're interested in becoming part of this, you'll be engaging in a conversation with us to a certain extent over the course of the next four months. Now, that might not be attractive to you, but kind of grin and barren.

Culminating in this opportunity to hopefully stride along with us or in a community close to you. And I personally would like to announce to the person who donates the most money, Jonathan will give them a piggyback ride. Whoa. Oh. That's what the you're supposed to do.

Not a long piggyback ride. A short piggyback ride. And there would probably be some kind of weight limit, so I'm out. But we will be looking for some inducements. This is something that's sort of near and dear to me. I think it's true, as you said, Robbie. One of the things that I think is really wonderful about this community is the nature of the contact we have as artists. with our fans. And I think down the years, all of us have gotten to know and become quite close to

a number of people who approached us initially as fans of our work. I'd really like to hope that what we're trying to figure out is ways that we can have a closer relationship with some of the people who want to support our efforts so that we can work together and cooperatively. So this is a vehicle and a means by which to do it. And we'll be rolling out some suggestions that we'll get more involved over the course of the next month or so. So this is kind of a kickoff to that effort for me. Gotcha. Pancan.org backslash team track. Team track.

Wrong again. It's purple stride.org backslash team track. Having said that, Pancan itself does have other things that they are doing this month specifically oriented towards raising awareness this month. I don't know Armin and Kitty if you want to touch on some of those. But I'm not as familiar with that as I should be perhaps kiddies but I do want to say if anyone has anybody in their circle of friends and their family the one thing we can do with this podcast learn from this tell those friends those family members go to the Pankan website Pankayan.org and get help because because it's very helpful and it's

very needful this November we're really focusing at Pankan on early detection and Pankan.org can help you Did you suddenly become diabetic? Did you have, are you having trouble, are you losing weight inexplicably? Are you having trouble holding on the food? Do you have grease, sorry, this is gross, but greasy diarrhea, that's also a sign. Those are all signs. And I just want to do a shout out about what Pankan has done in these terms,

two of the women who were really close to me when I was sick, who came over and, and helped me walk the dogs when I couldn't hold on to dogs and hung out with me and made me laugh and whatever it was and helped Armin. One of them has finished treatment and she just, she was diagnosed about a year ago and she's finished treatment and she's doing really well. Her surgery was successful and she's gonna fly out here

and walk with us. And my mother of my two godchildren, her brother had a prophylactic because they saw what he got such early to do. but they saw what was going to turn into pancreatic cancer and they did a whipple procedure on him and he walked with us last year and was going to walk with us this year again it it makes a difference to get found to get your cancer found early it makes an extraordinary difference this disease is not a death sentence there

if you are proactive and you get early detection it is not a death sentence kitty is the proof of that and so are the other people she just made And I'm sorry about our next-door neighbor's gardener. They came early. That leaf blower is a death sentence. Okay. It is indeed. Let me, kitty, when you say greasy diarrhea, are you talking about there's a film of oil on the top of the toilet water?

Is that what you mean? There's a film of oil. And, you know, it's lighter in color. Okay. Okay. I mean, one of the reasons why I lost, we were doing Hamlet. at the time i was beginning to get sick and i just had diarrhea all the time and i just thought it was stress because i didn't know anymore and it was greasy and it was pale and it was

it was disgusting what can i tell you well that's amazing by the way manny's diabetes started as thirst he was incredibly thirsty that was the very very first symptom which is which is a kind of a non sequitur but he could not quench his thirst and no matter how much water he drank and that's one of the first things and his wife said you know my dad has diabetes that's a symptom of diabetes and that's how it started it went in and that's what then they found the diabetes then well it's interesting that like you know we've been living through this pandemic COVID right and so many things like what we've experienced in in my house is after COVID a lot of people just dismiss symptoms is oh well it's it's long

COVID it's you know right and they don't look into things and what I love about what you're describing Pankan offers people is very specific things to keep an eye out for, that often some of these symptoms, I think a lot of people go into their doctor these days. That's what I've experienced. And they just say, oh, well, you just had COVID. It's probably that. And they don't look any further. So having specific information from Pankan to look into this is great. And again, if you don't like your doctor's diagnosis, if you think they're getting rid of you for the next patient, up pan can't ask for one of their doctors there's found to be one near you you just have to give a chemical a friend of a friend of ours has a friend who was recently diagnosed and they were

not getting good help so we got them to pan can and pan can sent them to a good doctor that's amazing by the way kitty don't wait and don't wait until your skin is getting yellow as my brother did yeah yeah or i i got down i think i weighed 115 when they found it i was 510 at the time that's pretty skinny i went down to 90 but so 115 seems robust but uh yeah yeah took 90 pounds at 510 kitty my goodness i'll show your picture sometimes garrett it looks like being out of world war two yeah yeah i was straight up and down from every angle i had no you were skin and bones you were skin and bones is what you are my goodness oh i have to say kitty you mentioned charlotte ray as your spiritual mother is i think what you said

she played my literal mother and into the woods in the first national tour so i love charlotte yeah and and it's just another example of these connections that we all know people we're affected by this and uh directly or you know a couple degrees separate of separation but yeah but this is something that needs a team and you guys are an awesome team and charlotte ray is sort of the godmother for this for our operation because she was the one that introduced katie to pancan and of course everybody falls in the line after that star was was an incredible spokesman for this organization she said i just have to quote we were in orange county talking before the purple stride in orange county one year and i i would carry a um apple box in the back of my car because she was so short so

she in order to see you know and and by then she was down to about four 10 and at the very end of her speech she at 90 she went i just want to say i'm so bad to be alive she brought the house down she was she was amazing he's amazing he had a sister a father and uncle and finally another sister after she died who all had pancreatic cancer wow oh there's the pop there's the new pop Bella We think Bella's going to be the name. She came out as nice. She's so cute.

Oh, my God. Look at that. I can't wait to come give a scoogee kiss to that dog. A scoochie kiss? What's a scoogee kiss? Oh, okay. Is there anything else we haven't touched on that is important? Did we mention Pankan.org backslash the trick?

Once again, it's wrong. Purplestride.org Backslash TeamTrek is the right one. Feel free to join us. The video that we're going to send you. Yeah. Yes. Well, thank you.

This has really touched my heart. And I love seeing people come together like this to do good in the world and help people. And cancer is a horrible disease. It's touched me. And I know it's touched all of you. So having community and connection like this means a lot. We appreciate the forum.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. When we first heard about this, we were like, yeah, we have to do this. We have to increase awareness. So we're so happy and glad to have all of you here. So thank you to John, Arm and Kitty, Jonathan, and one, Carlos, for being here today. And everyone.

Wait, one more time. Jonathan, what was that website again? Handcan.org Backslash Team Trek Team Trek Yes Okay

I just want to make sure we had the website correct I told you they did it a lot It's purple stride dot org backslash team truck

Good Good good good Good good And I want to do one final Welcome to JC He's such a great Thank you Thank you

Thank you Thank you for letting me honor My brother Thank you So since he's Since Juan Carlos as the newest member. Are there any initiation things that he has to go through? Any, any

paddling? The piggyback, I think. Oh, the piggyback. The piggyback. Yeah. Well, and he has to come over to my house and eat my baking. That's part of the deal. Ah, all right. Good. Yeah. That's the Kobayashi Maru. That's a Kobayashi Maru of the whole thing. It is. Oh. Kitty makes

extraordinary biscuits. So, you know, they're really good. Oh, my gosh. We insist. We insist on meetings. Yeah. Yes. All right. Well, thank you, everyone, for tuning in to this episode of the Delta Flyers.

It was very informative, very important, and we hope that all of you are able to go to the website and get involved. And thank you to all of our wonderful guests. We'll see you next week. All right, everyone, thank you for tuning in. And once again, the correct web address is Purple Stride, P-U-R-P-L-E-S-T-R-E-E-E-D-E-R-S-T-R-E-E-R-S-T-R-E-E-T-R-E-E-T-R-E-T-R-E. Thank you. We'll see you next week.

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