About the Author:

John D. Whitacre

Survivor of: pancreatic cancer (origin - common bile duct) with liver involvement
Hospitalized: April 4, 1989
Diagnosed: May 18, 1989, at age 47, via exploratory laparotomy and biopsy of hepatic metastasis (pathology reported as adenocarcinoma)
Treatment: palliative surgery; side-2-side choledochoduodenostomy.
Prognosis: "Exceptional" if John would live beyond one year after date of surgery.
Still kicking cancer free.
Reason for survival: Do not know. Grace of God. Positive attitude. Twist of fate. Good living. Power of mind. Miracle. Misdiagnosed. There are many opinions.

Picture taken in Fall of 1989. Doctors were still predicting it would be

"exceptional" if John survived to Spring of 1990.

From R-L, Michael, John, Arlene (wife) and Nancy Whitacre

On Thursday, May 18, 1989, following hours of exploratory surgery, John Whitacre was determined to have a primary cancer of the pancreas with liver involvement. The diagnosis was preceded by approximately six weeks of severe illness with jaundice. Unable to eat or take fluids for days at a time, John was kept alive by intravenous supplied fluids and nourishment during the six weeks period preceding his surgery. After the surgery and his medical diagnosis and prognosis, John was sent home to convalesce and most probably die.

The stress this event imposed on John and the Whitacre family (his wife Arlene, and two children, Michael [18] and Nancy [13]) was extreme.

John and his family had to adjust to the fact that his life could be limited to about eight weeks, most certainly less then one year. All John's plans for the future were useless. His ability to provide for the needs and security of his family were shattered by his inability to work and the prospect of imminent death. In a matter of eight weeks the family had gone from the relative security of their daily routines of work and life, to facing the loss of the primary bread winner and a key member of the family. From a sense of security John and his family were immersed in the uncertainty of their future.

But John did not die. Instead, out of this disorder, pain and suffering, John employed a series of methods to cope with the realities of the moment and the uncertainty of tomorrow. In 1992 John completed the book Confronting Life-Threatening Illness which centers on the important lessons he learned and the coping methods he used through out his experience. Fully recovered from his experience, in 1994 John returned to full time work, after 5 years of medical retirement.

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