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    "parsed_content": "Credit...Wesley AllsbrookSkip to contentSkip to site indexSearch & Section NavigationSection NavigationAccountAccountGoHome U.S.SECTIONSU.S.PoliticsNew YorkCaliforniaEducationHealthObituariesScienceClimateWeatherSportsBusinessTechThe UpshotThe MagazineTOP STORIESDonald TrumpSupreme CourtCongressImmigrationAbortionLatest PollsNEWSLETTERSThe MorningMake sense of the day\u2019s news and ideas.The EveningCatch up on big news, and wind down to end your day.See all newslettersPODCASTSThe DailyThe biggest stories of our time, in 20 minutes a day.See all podcastsWorldSECTIONSWorldAfricaAmericasAsiaAustraliaCanadaEuropeMiddle EastScienceClimateWeatherHealthObituariesTOP STORIESMiddle East CrisisRussia-Ukraine WarChina International RelationsThe Global ProfileLeer en Espa\u00f1olNEWSLETTERSThe WorldA guide to understanding the news, made for readers around the globe.Your Places: Global UpdateThe latest news for any part of the world you select.Canada LetterBackstories and analysis from our Canadian correspondents.See all newslettersBusinessSECTIONSBusinessTechEconomyMediaFinance and MarketsDealBookPersonal TechEnergy TransitionYour MoneyTOP STORIESU.S. EconomyStock MarketArtificial IntelligenceNEWSLETTERSDealBookThe most crucial business and policy news you need to know.On TechOur best tech reporting from the week.See all newslettersPODCASTSHard ForkOur tech journalists help you make sense of the rapidly changing tech world.See all podcastsArtsSECTIONSToday's ArtsBook ReviewBest SellersDanceMoviesMusicTelevisionTheaterPop CultureT MagazineVisual ArtsRECOMMENDATIONS100 Best Movies of the 21st CenturyCritic\u2019s PicksWhat to ReadWhat to WatchWhat to Listen To5 Minutes to Make You Love MusicNEWSLETTERSBooksReviews, news and features to help you find your next read.WatchingStreaming TV and movie recommendations.See all newslettersPODCASTSBook ReviewThe podcast that takes you inside the literary world.PopcastPop music news, new songs and albums, and artists of note.See all podcastsLifestyleSECTIONSAll LifestyleWellTravelStyleReal EstateFoodLoveYour MoneyPersonal TechT MagazineCOLUMNS36 HoursAsk WellThe HuntModern LoveWhere to EatVowsSocial Q\u2019sThe EthicistAsk the TherapistNEWSLETTERSThe WeekenderUnwind with stories about culture and the way we live.WellEssential news and guidance to live your healthiest life.See all newslettersPODCASTSModern LoveThe complicated love lives of real people.See all podcastsOpinionSECTIONSOpinionGuest EssaysEditorialsOp-DocsVideosLettersTOPICSPoliticsWorldBusinessTechClimateHealthCultureCOLUMNISTSJamelle BouieMaureen DowdDavid FrenchThomas L. 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I\u2019m Determined Not to Be Next.A journalist confronts his family history and his health.Credit...Wesley AllsbrookSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTListen \u00b7 9:18 min Share full articleBy Mark S. GetzfredMark S. Getzfred recently retired after 27 years as an editor at The Times.Sept. 17, 2026I closed my eyes as the M.R.I. scanner slowly encased me. I had reached a point that I had been dreading, yet one that had become inevitable after my younger brother died of pancreatic cancer in April 2023.He would be the first. About 16 months later, an older brother died of the disease. And 18 months after that, a third brother, also older, suffered the same fate.With three siblings dying of the same cancer \u2014 a family history that one doctor called extraordinary \u2014 getting tested seemed essential.Yet I kept dragging my feet, in part because it was less painful to ignore the danger. Over time I would put aside my reluctance, encouraged by my wife and something one of my brothers said shortly before he died. \u201cDon\u2019t get sick,\u201d he told me.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTPancreatic cancer is among the worst of the worst. It\u2019s hard to detect and by the time the disease is found, a quick and painful death seems the likely outcome. Only recently have treatment advances given patients some hope for extending their lives.In the United States, pancreatic cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths, after lung cancer and colorectal cancers. The American Cancer Society estimates about 67,530 Americans will be diagnosed with it this year, and about 52,740 will die from it.As a family, we were aware of the dangers of cancer. Our father died of colon and lung cancer in the early 1970s. One brother survived colon cancer in the 1990s, and another beat both skin and throat cancer.The colon cancer diagnosis prompted us to begin routine screening, and my brother\u2019s skin cancer got me to a dermatologist, who removed a cancerous growth near my lip.We were a family of seven boys, raised in Elgin, Neb., a town of about 900 two and a half hours northwest of Omaha, on the edge of the Nebraska Sandhills. Our father spent most of his life working at the grain elevator; our mother cooked and cleaned \u2014 the post office, the bowling alley. She eventually took a job at a hospital in nearby Neligh.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTOf the brothers, I was No. 6. My older brothers \u2014 Bob, Larry, Jim, Bill and Ron \u2014 all joined the Navy. Bill made the rank of commander. Larry made captain, and died in the Pentagon on Sept. 11.Darrell, the youngest, and I would take different paths. I spent 47 years covering the news, before retiring this year from The New York Times. Darrell stayed close to home and eventually took a job building subway cars for Kawasaki.Before I found myself having the M.R.I., I started with a genetic test.My doctor, Dr. Michael Murray, the clinical director for the Institute for Genomic Health at Mount Sinai Health System, cast a wide net for the genes he examined, in part to possibly explain my family history.The tests found no indication of a genetic relationship to pancreatic cancer. One gene had an alteration, but its effect isn\u2019t yet understood, so it wasn\u2019t considered a risk by today\u2019s guidelines.This certainly seemed like good news, and it brought me a moment of optimism.But Dr. Murray cautioned that the lack of a clear genetic result did not mean the cancer wasn\u2019t familial. Instead, it pointed to the need for more medical tests.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTAs he explained, my parents were both dead, so they couldn\u2019t be tested, and my brothers\u2019 results weren\u2019t available or weren\u2019t comparable. \u201cOne of the things we really don\u2019t want people to come away with is that a negative result rules out your hereditary cancer risk,\u201d said Danielle Hoffman, the genetic counselor who reviewed my results.Next up was the M.R.I., part of a monitoring regimen initiated by Dr. Aimee Lucas, chief of gastroenterology and hepatology at Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West Hospitals. Her expertise includes early detection in patients like myself, with a family history of the cancer.I was relieved when they pulled me out of the scanner after some 40 minutes, and not just because my nose itched and my left arm was falling asleep. Later I had a jolt of panic when the scan revealed a benign lesion on my pancreas, a finding that Dr. Lucas said was not unusual in families like mine.The plan going forward, Dr. Lucas said, would be to monitor the pancreas closely. In a few months, I will have an endoscopic ultrasound, which examines the pancreas and other organs from the inside.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTEach of my three brothers fought the disease differently.Darrell, who died at 62, learned of his cancer after it had spread beyond the pancreas. Working two jobs, he had little time for monitoring his health.Chemotherapy served to extend his life by a few months. With each report that the cancer was spreading, his hope drained away. He gathered with family on Easter Sunday and died the next day, in April 2023.Jim, 77, handled his diagnosis with the same dignity he showed throughout his life. Darrell\u2019s death had been hard \u2014 Jim had been a surrogate father to him after Dad died, when Darrell was 13. Already dealing with Alzheimer\u2019s, Jim chose to bypass any treatments.He died peacefully at home with his wife and two daughters around him, in August 2024.Bill, 74, and the last to die, battled the hardest; he was sure that he could beat cancer with the same tenacity that had propelled him for 30 years in the Navy.He had surgery to remove cancerous tumors from his pancreas and endured round after round of radiation and chemotherapy. He died at home about 10 days after entering hospice, in February 2026.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTWatching my brothers suffer was hard, even from a distance. I found myself anxiously waiting for test results, searching for any hint of good news, only to come away with a sense of dread.Since their deaths, advances in treatment have created reasons for some optimism.Two recent developments have the potential to be game changers, said Dr. Anna Berkenblit, chief scientific and medical officer of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.One treatment, daraxonrasib, which just received approval from the Food and Drug Administration, doubled life expectancy in a clinical trial of patients who had previously been treated with chemotherapy for metastatic pancreatic cancer, giving them more than 13 months to live, compared to fewer than seven months for those who received chemotherapy.The other new treatment involves a vaccine using mRNA technology in patients with pancreatic cancer who had their tumors removed, but were at high risk of the cancer coming back.\u201cIt does feel that there is more momentum in targeting all aspects of pancreatic cancer,\u201d Dr. Lucas said.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTBut, she added, because pancreatic cancer patients are often diagnosed when the disease is well advanced, there are fewer long-term survivors who can help raise awareness of the disease.Complicating detection is the fact that, in most cases, pancreatic cancer, doesn\u2019t manifest itself before age 50, Dr. Lucas said, so testing before then isn\u2019t usually recommended and has the potential to do more harm than good. A patient might come away with a false sense of security.My test results, and the confidence exuded by Dr. Lucas, have helped shift my attitude a bit; no longer do I see the disease as an inevitability.The doctors also drove home a point: Stick with the monitoring program. Together the tests will provide a more complete picture.The testing also reinforced a practice I\u2019ve always tried to follow, to know my body and watch for small but unexplained changes. Subtle shifts starting two to three years before diagnosis can be clues to pancreatic disease, Dr. Lucas reminded me, like changes in blood glucose or unexplained weight loss.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSince I live in New York and my family lives in Nebraska, I found myself making trips home during my brothers\u2019 illnesses.At times, I felt like the grim reaper, appearing just before death comes to the door. I went home to visit Darrell and he died about a week later. I went home to spend time with Jim and watched, and prayed, as he died. About two weeks after visiting Bill, we were at his funeral.Two of us remain: me and Ron, who is 71. He\u2019s retired and spends much of his day working in his oversized garden outside Lincoln.You start to wonder who will be the last Getzfred standing.I can still hear Bill urging me not to get sick.I\u2019m trying not to disappoint.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT Get four individual logins in one account.Add three people to your subscription.Savings for the whole family.Switch to All Access FamilyCancel\u00a0anytime.",
    "published_at": "2026-09-17T09:02:43+00:00",
    "author_name": "Mark S. Getzfred",
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    "ai_headline": "I Lost 3 Brothers to Cancer. I\u2019m Determined Not to Be Next.",
    "ai_simplified_title": "Journalist Confronts Family History of Pancreatic Cancer",
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