When pancreatic cancer unexpectedly changed Jim Blanchette’s life, it also revealed the strength of his faith, family, and community.
After beginning an intensive journey of chemotherapy treatments and hoping for approval to undergo the Whipple procedure, Jim has faced each challenge with humor and positivity.
Alongside him, his daughter Amy has found her own way to cope: taking on her first full marathon, the Eversource Hartford Marathon, to honor her dad and raise awareness for pancreatic cancer research.
Together, Jim and Amy hope to inspire others and support pancreatic cancer research while they each take on their own challenges.
Beginning A Battle
Amy’s dad, Jim, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on May 1st. A retired police officer and now a Deacon, Jim had always been relatively healthy.
“Before May 1st, I was living my life, living it well.” Jim shared, “I never really even gave cancer a thought of coming across in my life. Except for injuries I incurred through my job as a retired cop, I never had anything.”
Jim’s symptoms started on April 30th when his skin turned yellow. Since then, Jim has done five rounds of chemotherapy in hopes of being able to undergo the Whipple surgery.
“I looked like a minion. My grandchildren thought it was kind of neat too; they were kind of disappointed when I went from yellow to regular, so that humor was there,” Jim said.
In his first couple of rounds of chemotherapy, Jim found that he had high energy from all of the medicine that the doctors gave him. Now his energy has dropped as he continues to go through rounds of chemo, experiencing even more side effects from the treatment.
“I weighed 215 on May 1st and right now I weigh 162,” Jim shared. “That’s quite the drop; that’s huge. I used to live to eat, not eat to live.”
Jim started his treatments at Hartford Hospital, receiving excellent care, and then moved to Memorial Sloan Kettering. Jim described the two as a team, getting fantastic support and care from everyone.
Recently, Jim had a CAT scan done, hoping for good results to move forward towards the Whipple procedure. “I’ve never prayed so much for a radical operation as the Whipple procedure, not that anybody wants to go through a long operation, but if that’s what is going to save my life, then so be it.”
Throughout all of the treatments, Jim has always kept a positive outlook and a good sense of humor. “For Father’s Day we had a chemo wig party,” Jim’s daughter Amy shared.
“We got all these crazy wigs; it was funny, and that’s the approach my dad prefers, trying to keep that positive attitude.”
Jim’s wife has also been a part of his positivity, always being there to help him through his treatments and driving with him to his appointments. “My wife has been the one who has been my rock in this whole thing.”
“My wife has never really cried. Nobody in my family really has openly cried. A lot of people have been very emotionally supportive, but my wife has been supporting me and being the one that’s held herself up,” Jim said.
Finding Comfort and Faith
Prior to his diagnosis, Jim has written and published a book titled I’ve Made My Peace…So Can You. Within the past twenty years, Jim has found a connection with his spirituality, and with the new addition of battling pancreatic cancer, he has decided to share his journey. He is working on another that highlights his battle with pancreatic cancer,
“I was probably one of the biggest advocates about not going to church, or to not follow the Catholic Church, and you know, God has a sense of humor,” Jim explained.
In a move that would have shocked his younger self, Jim became a Deacon in the Catholic Church, which is something Amy would never have imagined.
“I think his faith has helped him deal with all of the trials and tribulations he’s going through and to keep moving forward and persevering through it all,” Amy said.
“I’ve seen people of other denominations be so critical in condemnation, so my message to people through this book is just to know that there is more to this world. This is not the end of the world when we leave it. I didn’t have this belief before October 2006.”
Now being a Deacon and connected with his spirituality, Jim has found yet another large, loving support system…his parish!
“Some people at the parish are having him sign books,” Amy shared. “That community is so supportive, and they all really care about him.”
Having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Jim has had to step down for a little while from the parish; however, this did not mean Jim wanted remorse and sorrow from the people in his community.
“I told them, I don’t want pity.” He was adamant about it: “I don’t want pity, I want prayers, and that’s the support that I’ve been given, and then parishioners at our church have been just unbelievable with prayers.”
Running for Dad
The weight of Jim’s diagnosis has not only been difficult for him but for his family as well, of course. “All of this happening with the diagnosis made me think, ‘I need to do something positive with this, and I need to have some outlet for myself that’s healthy,” Amy shared.
Amy decided to take on a marathon to support pancreatic cancer research and honor the battle that her dad and many others are unfortunately going through. Having done two half marathons before, Amy thought now was the perfect opportunity to commit to a full marathon.
“It’s not an easy task, but I’ve already run some half marathons in the past. I felt like making this bigger goal for myself and kind of suffering alongside my dad, in some ways, would serve as my outlet.”
Seeing Amy train for the Hartford Marathon along with support from his family and the parish has given Jim an overwhelming sense of love.
“To have that type of support from a family member… I’m still in disbelief. She’s never taken on such an endeavor. I’ve run half marathons in my past, and that was hard enough,” Jim shared.
“Seeing that she was going to take on something that was going to take a lot of time and energy and a lot of her own physical demands… It’s almost like she’ll be sharing a lot of the pains that I have.”
Support From All, For All
Since taking on a marathon, Amy has seen an overwhelming amount of love and support of her own.
“I obviously hoped that I would have people to support me, but the way they came out so quickly, and people were so generous, it was really nice, and truly meant a lot to me” Amy shared.
Joining the Project Purple team has given Amy an additional support system. “It’s nice to learn about other people who are doing the same thing and have the same goal to raise money and awareness,” she said.
To cross the finish line for Amy will be a really huge, meaningful moment. “I feel it will be a very cathartic experience just even being able to get through all of this alongside my dad, who is going through so much right now,” Amy said.
“I’m hoping that, beyond showing up for him and raising money and awareness, this can inspire people to realize that they’re capable of achieving and overcoming things they never thought possible—even when life throws something at them that they never saw coming and turns their whole world upside down.”
Many of Amy’s friends and family, including Jim, will be there on race day cheering her on from the sidelines!
“Cancer has taken away so many things from me,” Jim shared. “But it’s also given me something that was really unexpected and has shown me how much faith matters in my life, how much family matters in my life, and how much love matters.”
If you’d like to run or participate in an event of your own for Project Purple, visit our events page.
