[Text on screen: Medina, Ohio]

[Music playing]

[Text on screen: Bob Berry
Patient
OSUCCC - James]

Bob Berry: I got really lucky. Our company had a health fair and I happened to run down and get my blood pressure checked, and it was actually a little high and I didn't think anything of it. A couple of weeks later and it was still a little high, and so I literally stopped on my way home at the doctor's office. They did a full cardio workout and he also ordered a CT, which ultimately did not come back fine, and that's where they found the spot on my pancreas. I got a phone call and I recognized the number and I was like, "Well, Dr. Hoynes, how bad is it?" And he said, "Yeah, it's pretty bad."

It was pancreatic cancer. Obviously I had family history of that and knew that pancreatic cancer was not a terrific diagnosis. After a couple of treatments, I had another scan and the surgeon called and said, "Gosh, I don't think you're operable anymore." I really needed to execute on that second opinion that I had put off. Tim Pawlik was the guy to go see. Terry and I drove down and we talked about what our objective for the meeting was, and it was basically three things. One was to find out that the tumor was really operable. Two, that he was willing to do the surgery. And three, that we had confidence in the person.

[Text on screen: Timothy Pawlik, MD, PhD
Chair, Department of Surgery, Surgeon-in-Chief
The Urban F. Meyer III and Shelley M. Meyer Chair for Cancer Research]

Timothy Pawlik, MD, PhD: When I met Bob, I thought I could do things maybe a little bit differently, had a different approach. He had been seen at an outside hospital and they had told him that he had pancreatic cancer and it was not resectable. However, based on my experience, it looked resectable.

Bob Berry: We knew really quickly into our initial consult that those three objectives were going to be met. We tell the story that my wife is not a crier, and she almost cried as a result of that meeting. The initial meeting with Dr. Pawlik provided us a lot of confidence in his skill as a surgeon and his ability to relate to a patient on a human basis. He clearly shares his compassion about the process and about the person, but he also provides a realistic path forward.

It's 2025. Yeah. I'm really, really fortunate and blessed that we had the right doctor at the right time at the right place. Clearly, The James has figured out the culture piece of providing healthcare. That is exhibited the first time you drive in the parking lot and you meet the registration folks all the way up to the nurses and the assistants that are helping you, as well as to the surgeon that's providing your ultimate care. We were so fortunate that we experienced the power of The James team and we wanted to help The James provide world-class care to other people. 

We host an annual fundraiser, we call it dinner at the farm. We've been really blessed to have a group of very generous people come together and support the cause. If we can help provide funding and help raise funds so that other people can have a more positive experience so that we can move the needle on helping other people have a similar trajectory that I had coming out of this. 

Timothy Pawlik, MD, PhD: The impact that Bob and Terry have had on the research program here at Ohio State and in particular in pancreatic cancer research has really been unbelievable. Bob and Terry both feel very fortunate about the care that they received here at The James, and they wanted to pay that forward, and to date have raised over half a million dollars in support of pancreatic cancer research for the Department of Surgery and The James Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Bob Berry: Every morning I wake up and I think to myself, "Today's going to be a great day, and how do I make a difference?" 

[Text on screen: The James
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
For more information, visit: go.osu.edu/EveningattheFarm]

[Music fades]