#TeamDerek Fight to beat Pancreatic Cancer

Greeting everyone, my name is Jessica, I am Derek’s sister-in-law and Jamie (Derek’s wife), twin sister.

At the age of just 39, Derek received the news no one ever would have seen coming – On August 22nd, 2023 he was diagnosed with stage 4 Pancreatic cancer. Derek and Jamie have been married for 15 years and have 3 kids; Brody (14), Kylee (11), and Rayce (5). The Degnitz family is about to face the unknown with unexpected expenses.

Here is his story.

Back in June, Jamie noticed Derek's eyes were yellow and his skin looked jaundiced. Along with having stomach pains and feeling sick, she made him go to the doctor for bloodwork. Before the bloodwork came back, they were hoping it was just a bad case of food poisoning from the gas station food Derek had eaten the day before. Unfortunately, the bloodwork showed his Lipase levels (a pancreatic enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of fats to fatty acids and glycerol or alcohols) were over 4,000, when the normal range is 73-393. Most of his liver levels from the comprehensive panel were off the charts as well. After seeing those numbers, the doctor was concerned it was much more than what they originally thought. The DR ordered an x-ray and they found the common bile duct was blocked. An ERCP (Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography Procedure), was scheduled in Hartford. The procedure was supposed to be easy and we should have found out what was blocking his bile duct, the Dr. said he could remove the blockage 97% of the time. Well, guess what, Derek fell in that 3%. He couldn't get past one point in his bile duct and didn't want to poke or push anymore so he didn't give him pancreatitis (which is very painful). This DR referred us to a Dr. at St. Luke's who specializes in more severe cases, Dr. Sahibzada Latif. In the meantime, Derek had to get a CT scan done of his pancreas and surrounding organs. Derek was still very jaundiced and in pain.

On June 23rd, Derek had a CT scan done, which showed a mass on the head of the pancreas but the DR couldn’t get to it with all the inflammation. Derek had to wait until Aug 4th (6 weeks) for another CT scan to see if the mass was still there. It took 10 days to get the result and it showed the mass was still there, along with 2 small spots on the liver.

Aug 15th, the Dr ordered more bloodwork, which showed his CA-19 cancer antigen was at 199.

Aug 18th , Derek went down to St. Luke’s for the procedure. The Dr was able to get a sample from the tumor. The Dr. was able to look at the sample under a microscope, along with another phytologist, they both unofficially said it was pancreatic cancer. The official results came in on Aug 22nd, and the mass was confirmed to be positive for malignancy. At that moment their lives changed!

Aug 28th, Derek had to go in for a liver biopsy. Aug 29th, they received the news that they were indeed part of the cancer. This was NOT the news they wanted to hear as surgery is now not an option, which was the one thing that could have maybe saved his life.

The tumor on his pancreas is now inoperable. This means no surgery to remove the tumor because if they cut him open, the cancer will spread like wildfire. Because the cancer is on his liver this means it traveled through his blood and they don't know where else it is.

If a person develops pancreatic cancer, it may have genetic mutations that could affect how it responds to treatment. Genetic testing can provide valuable information to help doctors and individuals make treatment decisions. Healthcare providers use genetic testing to learn more about the DNA in a person’s cells. Specific genetic mutations affect how cancer grows, including pancreatic cancer.

Derek will continue with more bloodwork and more genetic testing. During the next few weeks they will gather information from these test results, and reach out to different places that have clinical trials across the county.

The reason I mentioned genetic testing is because once they find the answer to this, they are going to have a lot of medical expenses due to traveling for the right clinical trial.

By donating to Derek YOU will help his chances to fight this beast and hopefully save his life! He will be doing hours and hours of chemo and will have to be off work. Most likely Derek and Jamie will have to travel to a different state for a clinical trial, which means they need help with watching the kids and meals.

Here are a few things we have going on to support Derek and his family.

October 7th, we are having a benefit at Byron Dragway (Derek’s favorite hobby)

*** Visit CaringBridge for more information*** Baskets are needed for the benefit, if interested in donating, please reach out to me at [phone redacted]

October 21st we are hosting another benefit at JW Creekside in Adell, WI. They will be donating 50% of their sales the entire day to Derek! Please come out to support Derek and his family. This event will be all day from bar open at 11am – close.

Sept 8th Derek will start his first round of chemotherapy!

If there is a different way you would like to support Derek, please reach out to me.

To follow Derek's journey visit the CaringBridge link below.

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/derekdegnitz