Ted’s Unicorns was created to honor the life of Ted Preston, and together we are pedaling towards a cure for pancreatic cancer by raising money to fund research towards better screening and treatment options. Every dollar we raise goes directly to support research in the labs of Brian Wolpin, MD, MPH, director of Dana-Farber’s Gastrointestinal Cancer Center and Hale Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research.

You may be wondering, “why unicorns”? Bear with me – this involves a little backstory. Ted loved the radio. It was his near constant companion. He was a NPR junkie and had a love of independent radio stations that introduced us to a lot of great music over the years. Ted was a steadfast supporter of Seattle, WA-based KEXP. Like most independent stations, KEPX relies heavily on fundraising and Ted always answered the call. For certain fundraisers, donors received a special T-shirt and a few years ago, in celebration of David Bowie’s life, the gift was a “Bowiecorn” shirt. The smile on Ted’s face when he opened that package was brilliant, as were the words that followed: “This T-shirt is awesome! It will be perfect for coaching my little ladies!” And thus, Ted’s love of the Bowiecorn began. The picture here is Ted in what he felt was his perfect weekend soccer coaching outfit – his Bowiecorn T-shirt, his Vienna Beef hot dog hat, mesh shorts and his stylish white socks and sport sandals. He was always a fashionista in his own special way.

When Ted was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in April 2018, he also learned that his disease was advanced and had metastasized throughout his liver. Sadly, this is how most patients are diagnosed with this horrible disease because symptoms typically do not appear until the disease has spread. Most will agree, the available methods for detecting and treating pancreatic cancer are simply unacceptable.

After his diagnosis, the unicorn took on a new meaning as a symbol of hope, strength, bravery and miracles. His collection of unicorn-themed clothing expanded and was always a part of his wardrobe on chemotherapy days, as he bravely fought his illness with his eternal positive energy and strength.

In our first three years as a team, we've raised over over $145,000, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. We've had the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Wolpin to hear first-hand the impact of our fundraising efforts. Because of the complexities of treating pancreatic cancer and the challenges to finding it early, philanthropy, including our PMC funds, are essential to fuel his team's work. It's philanthropy that enables them to explore out-of the-box approaches. One example was a crazy idea to genetically sequence pancreatic cancer tumors to see if they shared common mutations with other cancer types. This intitial exploration and early evidence led to larger grant funding for additional research and ultimately a new treatment option for a small subset of patients.

This work makes a difference. Between 2014 and 2020, the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer improved from 6% to 10%. For those diagnosed with metastatic disease, it's much lower. There is so much more work that needs to be done. (Here is a link to a recent article about Dr. Wolpin’s work: https://blog.dana-farber.org/insight/2018/09/finding-new-avenues-treat).

Please support our ride to help keep moving pancreatic cancer research forward - every dollar counts!