Lost 3 brothers to cancer. I'm determined not to be next

A former New York Times reporter in Nebraska describes losing three brothers to pancreatic cancer and how it drove him to get tested. After his youngest brother died in April 2023, an older brother died about 16 months later, and a third followed 18 months after that. He recounts delaying screening because ignoring the risk felt less painful, then recalls a brother’s advice: “Don’t get sick.” He notes pancreatic cancer’s difficulty to detect and cites American Cancer Society estimates that about 67,530 Americans will be diagnosed this year and about 52,740 will die. His genetic testing, ordered by Dr. Michael Murray at Mount Sinai, found no indication of a known genetic link to pancreatic cancer; one gene alteration was not considered a risk under current guidelines. The story also places his family history in context, including father’s colon and lung cancer deaths and other cancer survivals.