TAMPA, Fla. — What if you could change your destiny?
Doug Janousek is about to try with a drastic surgery to prevent one of the deadliest cancers.
"I sat with my brother and toward the end, I was pushing his morphine pump for him because he couldn't," Janousek said, slightly pausing as he became emotional.
"I don't want to be that guy… I don't want that kind of pain."
Janousek lost his oldest brother, Dave, to pancreatic cancer when he was just 42 years old.
The year prior, pancreatic cancer killed Janousek's father and before that, his father's father.
So when recent scans revealed cysts on his own pancreas, Janousek made the drastic decision: He would undergo a total pancreatectomy.
Doctors will not only remove his entire pancreas, gall bladder and spleen but also parts of his stomach and small intestine.
"We don't do this lightly," said Dr. Mokenge Malafa, Janousek's surgical oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, where he will undergo the procedure on Friday.
"We only do it in extreme situations."
Pancreatic cancer: Tough to detect early
Malafa said they perform roughly 10 total pancreatectomy procedures per year at Moffitt.
It's a high risk-high reward surgery, according to Malafa, but one that will help Janousek and others by furthering research of one of the toughest cancers to catch and treat.
Janousek gave permission for the hospital to use his tissues for future studies.
"The biggest hurdle is trying to find it early, and I think a first step is for us to understand people who might be at risk for it that we start to look for it as early as possible," Malafa said.
Following the procedure, Janousek will instantly become a Type-1 diabetic and will have to take digestive enzymes for the rest of his life.
But doctors say it will give him a more than 99 percent chance of not developing pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer begins in tissue within the organ. Early warning signs are often vague and associated with other conditions.
Preventive screening—like a mammogram for catching breast cancer or a colonoscopy or stool test or detecting colon cancer—don't exist.
Nationwide, pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related death, according to the American Cancer Society.
Malafa said a total pancreatectomy is seen as a last resort and other preventative measures are available. In a procedure known as a distal pancreatectomy, just the tail of the pancreas is removed. In what's known as a whipple procedure, the majority of the pancreas is removed while other organs remain.
'Be your own advocate'
While the majority of Janousek's surgery is covered by insurance, he says he will still have to pay roughly $20,000 out of pocket. He has set up a GoFundMe account to raise money to help cover medical costs.
Janousek says he hopes sharing his story will inspire others with a family history of cancer to be vigilant.
"You can't wait for stuff to happen to you, you have to be your own advocate," he said.
"If I can get one person to the doctor then I win."
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