Linda Amuso is Helping Change the Story of Pancreatic Cancer

This November, during Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, PanCAN invites you to join our movement to turn science into survival. Through All Together We Can, our five-year, $250 million campaign, we are investing in breakthrough research, expanding patient support and advocating to accelerate progress and help more people survive pancreatic cancer. In this blog post, get to know PanCAN Board member Linda Amuso.

One day in 2014, Linda Amuso's wife, Susan, was at CrossFit working out. A doctor's appointment the next day changed everything - Susan was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

For Linda, the shock was immediate. She turned to PanCAN for help navigating a disease she knew little about. Through PanCAN Patient Services, she found information about clinical trials, guidance on finding doctors and resources to help her make decisions during an impossibly fast-moving time.

Susan lived for two and a half years - precious time, Linda says, but never enough.

That experience changed the course of Linda's relationship with PanCAN. What began with a desperate search for answers became a commitment to ensuring other patients and families have more options, better support and, ultimately, more time together.

Today, Linda serves on PanCAN's Board of Directors and supports the organization as a donor. Her story is a powerful example of how personal loss can become a driving force for progress.

From Finding Answers to Funding Discoveries

Linda's involvement with PanCAN grew from her experience as a caregiver and her belief that focused philanthropy can make a meaningful difference.

A business leader by profession, she initially directed her giving toward an early career research grant. The investment gave a scientist the opportunity to pursue a novel research idea - helping support the next generation of discovery.

That first commitment led to a deeper role in the organization. When PanCAN President and CEO Julie Fleshman invited Linda to join the Board, she saw an opportunity to bring her professional experience and philanthropic passion together in service of a mission that mattered deeply to her.

"You don't want to be in this club," Linda says. "But when you are in this club, you're pretty passionate about making progress."

For Linda, that passion comes with a clear understanding of why disease-specific research matters. Pancreatic cancer remains an underfunded area, and advancing it requires resources directed toward the unique challenges of the disease.

PanCAN brings together researchers, patients, advocates and donors with a shared focus - accelerating progress against pancreatic cancer. Linda believes that connection is essential to translating philanthropic investment into meaningful results.

Seeing Philanthropy in Action

Attending PanCAN's Scientific Summit this past September has given Linda a new appreciation for the work her support helps make possible.

Although she isn't a scientist, she welcomes the opportunity to learn about emerging discoveries and see researchers collaborating to tackle one of the most challenging cancers.

"You see the focus and the collaboration in the room and how scientists are innovating together," she says. "It's really very inspiring."

Hearing survivors share their experiences has also moved her deeply. For Linda, those stories connect the science to the people whose lives depend on it.

"Being in the room and just seeing my philanthropy in action, how it supports PanCAN and how it helps these investigators makes you actually connected to the mission a little bit more than just sending money randomly to some philanthropic organization," she says. "It's very, very impactful."

That connection reinforces why she continues to give her time, expertise and financial support. Research is not an abstract investment to Linda. It is a way to help families facing the same uncertainty she once knew.

More Time. Better Care. A Future with Hope.

When Linda thinks about what she hopes research will accomplish, she sees a spectrum of opportunities.

Earlier detection is critical because pancreatic cancer is often discovered too late. Better treatments can help patients live longer, while improvements in symptom and side-effect management can make the time they have more comfortable and meaningful.

A cure remains the ultimate goal. But Linda believes every advance that gives patients more time, reduces pain or expands their options matters.

Her perspective is shaped by another family loss. About 15 years ago, her uncle was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told to get his affairs in order. He died six weeks later.

Remembering that experience alongside the advances she sees today makes the potential of research especially powerful.

When she considers newer treatments that may extend survival and improve quality of life, Linda feels encouraged by how much can change in a relatively short time.

"When you invest in pancreatic cancer, you are investing in hope and you're investing in the future," she says.

That hope is not limited to the possibility of a cure. It also means helping patients live better, supporting families through difficult decisions and ensuring promising research has the resources to move forward.

All Together We Can

As a PanCAN board member and donor, Linda is enthusiastic about the organization's All Together We Can campaign, an ambitious effort to raise $250 million over five years to advance breakthrough research, expand Patient Services and champion a thriving community.

She sees the campaign as an opportunity to accelerate progress at a pivotal moment in pancreatic cancer research, when emerging approaches - including advances in RAS-targeted therapies - are opening new possibilities.

The goal is bold, she says, and meeting it will require more people to step forward and invest in the future.

For Linda, that collective commitment is what makes PanCAN's work so important. Philanthropy can help direct resources toward promising research, while advocacy can help secure public funding and ensure pancreatic cancer remains a priority.
"Your money matters," she says. "It really matters."

She believes donors who have been touched by pancreatic cancer understand the urgency. Their support can help researchers pursue discoveries, give patients access to resources and move the field closer to better outcomes.

Turning Loss into Lasting Progress

Linda cannot change what happened to Susan or her uncle. But she can help shape what happens to families facing pancreatic cancer in the years ahead.

Through her service on PanCAN's Board, her support for research and her belief in the power of collective action, she is helping build a future in which a diagnosis brings more possibilities than it does today.

For Linda, All Together We Can is ultimately about bringing people together to accelerate research, improve outcomes and give patients and families something invaluable: time.

Because when we invest together in research, patient support and advocacy, we invest in the possibility of a different future for everyone affected by pancreatic cancer.