LITTLE COMPTON — a little over 67 weeks after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on February 3, 2010, Peter Washburn of little Compton will gather the strength to walk five kilometers this Sunday, may 15, through Goddard Park in Warwick.

The occasion is the state’s first walk-a-thon for pancreatic cancer. Sponsored by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, PurpleStride Rhode Island 2011 aims “to promote awareness and to raise funds for pancreatic research.”

Mr. Washburn’s participation is special; he has already beaten the odds. “About 75 percent of people diagnosed die in the first year after diagnosis,” he said. “Unfortunately ‘pan can’ is not a sexy disease. most people do not have symptoms until it’s too late.”

He won’t walk alone. mr. Washburn has already recruited 95 people to participate with him, and had raised $10,175 for the cause. 

“Pancreatic cancer is the fourth largest cancer killer that exists,” mr. Washburn said. “Over 42,000 people will get diagnosed this year, 38,000 will die. It is the only cancer among the 10 most deadly that has a five-year survival rate still in single digits, a rate that last year advanced from five percent to six percent.”

The first symptom he noticed early 2010 was “heartburn for a month.” He put off seeing his doctor until he got back from a trip to San Diego. When he returned, his wife told him he “looked yellow.”

So on February 3, 2010, he finally went to see his doctor. “Within three hours I had my blood work and a CT scan done, and knew what I was up against,” mr. Washburn wrote on the eve of surgery a week later in a remarkable journal — over 100 pages long and growing — that he began when he was diagnosed, and continues to maintain online (at caringbridge.org/visit/peterwashburn).

In his journal a week later, and on the eve of surgery scheduled for February 10, 2010, mr. Washburn wrote of his plight. “While there’s a 95% chance it’s a cancerous tumor on my pancreas, it cut off the liver duct and turned me yellow. so I am one of the lucky ones with pancreatic cancer. I got an early warning. most people do not, and it often is a death sentence.”

His surgery did not go as hoped. Six to eight hours in, the lengthy operation had to be aborted. the cancer had spread to the liver, his gallbladder “was the size of an eggplant,” and the tumor was so extensive that removing it, he wrote later, was “not an option.”

Mr. Washburn, 57, is an accountant and financial planner. His wife, Sue, is a project manager in the field of educational development. They live on a hill overlooking Quicksand Pond to the west, in a remote little Compton setting populated by coyotes, rabbits, deer, wild turkeys, groundhogs, osprey and hawks.

His professional instincts, and the natural setting in which he lives, perhaps fuel the approach he has taken to his cancer. “My hope was taken away for the last time at the end of March 2010, when a doctor friend who was also a client, told me I’m not going to beat it. He didn’t want to give me false hope. but someone has to make up the survivor statistics, so why not me? That’s what I believe and that’s what my wife believes.

“It was that day with my doctor that I made an immediate note to prepare for and envision a long life. If I didn’t have that attitude or vision, I knew I wouldn’t beat it. about 75 percent of us don’t make it out of the first year, and only six percent of us survive five years or more,” he said. “In my opinion someone has to make that six percent.”

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Since diagnosis mr. Washburn has pursued a treatment regimen that includes medications, chemotherapy pills and guided imagery. Less standard treatments involve qigong, reiki, massage, acupuncture, yoga, meditation, and a variety of homeopathic remedies that he gets through a naturopathic doctor. He said he is not in remission; he’s “actively being treated.” 

His main symptom, he says, and the most difficult aspect of the disease for him, “is extreme fatigue, tiredness, and a loss of appetite. I’m lucky. For others it’s extreme pain.”

This Saturday at the walk in Goddard Park, mr. Washburn said, “”I’ll be wearing a survivor’s shirt.”

Research funding for pancreatic cancer is scant, he said.  “Last year, breast cancer, which has a 67% five-year survival rate thanks to research, received $500 million dollars for research from the National Cancer Institute. Pancreatic cancer research received only $96 million, even though almost the same number of people died from both cancers,” he said.

One major deficiency, that he says research might help develop, is a screening test for pancreatic cancer.

At present, the federal government has no long-term comprehensive research strategy to combat pancreatic cancer,” says the PanCan Network. With the help of Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, legislation — the Pancreatic Cancer Research and Education Act — has been introduced in Congress to help improve research funding. the PanCan Network says, “funding is directly correlated to the survivor rates.”

Purple Stride and more:

• Purple Stride Sunday, may 15 — Begins and ends at carousel near the beach in Goddard Park in Warwick. Registration at 7:30 a.m.; opening ceremonies at 9 a.m. Food, music, raffles, vendors, children’s activities, and more, sponsors say. Website: kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=464980

• Peter Washburn’s journal: caringbridge.org/visit/peterwashburn

• Pancreatic Cancer Action Network: pancan.org

Research, patient support, advocacy, creating hope, news updates.

• Lustgarten Foundation: lustgarten.org

Treatment options, information, research, and fundraising.