Episode 1
Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Surgery
In Episode 1 of The Mo Chronicles: Navigating Pancreatic Cancer, Mo Kilar tells listeners about her presenting symptoms (jaundice, back pain, loss of appetite, etc), her preliminary diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer at a regional medical center, and her push to qualify for the Whipple surgery
Transcription
Jason: Maureen Kilar, better known simply as 'Mo' first learned that she had a tumor on her pancreas on Sunday, March 2nd, 2014. This is Mo's story about her journey with pancreatic cancer. My name is Jason Kilar and I am one of Mo's six grown children. You'll be hearing my voice on these podcast episodes as Mo's interviewer.
This podcast exists for a simple reason--to provide hope and optimism, to both those who have been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and to their loved ones. When Mo first relayed her diagnosis to her family on that day in March, we did what anyone in that situation would do... we Googled for as much information as we could find about this disease.
While we found ample medical information from those pancreatic cancer Google searches, including many sobering mortality stats, we did not find much in the way of human stories. We found nothing positive to speak of. In the face of so much darkness just one story of optimism, just one story of survival would have helped greatly in that moment.
This is our attempt to share Mo's story of optimism and survival in the face of pancreatic cancer.
