Celebrities with a personal connection to the disease are lending their voices to PurpleStride’s inspirational day.
The event will celebrate survivors and raise money to fund life-changing programs and services for patients with pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to detect and treat. It is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States and is on track to become the second. It remains the only major cancer with a five-year survival rate below 20%. Because symptoms are often vague and mimic other conditions, most patients are diagnosed in the later stages, when tumors are inoperable and treatment options are limited. Detecting the disease earlier, when surgery is possible, is critical to improving outcomes. There is no standard screening strategy for pancreatic cancer and few treatment options, highlighting the urgent need for increased funding and awareness to improve patient outcomes.
Taking place in more than 50 communities across the country on April 25, 2026, some of the several celebrities participating in PanCAN PurpleStride include Rosa Blasi, actress and author, who has a family member and friend impacted by pancreatic cancer.
Writer, director, actress, dancer Lisa Niemi Swayze and wife of the late actor, Patrick Swayze, who passed from pancreatic cancer and Jean Trebek, whose husband “Jeopardy’s” Alex Trebek, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2019 are also participating.
