My Journey with PNET

2025 marks my 10th anniversary from surviving a Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor.

In April 2015, as a mother to a 13-month-old little girl, I was diagnosed with a Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor, often referred to as a PNET.

Imagine driving down a Florida highway in the middle lane with your daughter in the car seat in back and out of nowhere, with no warning, feeling or sensation, you start throwing up. I grabbed my daughter’s diaper bag from the front seat and used that as a receptacle. This was the third time in about two weeks that out of the blue I began throwing up. I knew something was wrong. I could not attribute it to something I ate or a bug going around when the incidents were that far apart. I listened to my body and took myself to the ER after arranging care for my daughter.

Multiple tests later a small mass was identified on my pancreas. To this day, all doctors that treated me could not confirm that my throwing up episodes were tied to the pancreatic mass, but because of those episodes and my demanding more tests be run to try to find a cause, a CT Scan picked up the tumor.

Shortly after Easter 2015, I underwent an endoscopy so the doctors could take a closer look at the tumor. To this day, I still remember the feeling in my gut when I came out of anesthesia to find the Chief of Oncology at my bedside presenting me with his business card and asking if my parents were here with me. No disrespect, I am sure he is a wonderful man, but waking up to find the Chief of Oncology by my bed is a moment I cannot forget and was a little shocking.

But that moment, while shocking, also made me realize how much everything was about to change. I listened to his diagnosis of a PNET and expected treatment – a Whipple surgery – and my knee jerk reaction was ok, well let’s schedule the surgery and take it out, what are we waiting for, I have a 13-month-old daughter, I need to get back to taking care of her.

That march led me to one of the best facilities in the country for treatment. Again, no disrespect to the medical team who diagnosed me and initially counseled me in Florida, but when your mother calls you shortly after diagnosis and says can you be in NYC on Wednesday for an appointment with a renowned specialist in this area at Memorial Sloan Kettering, fondly referred to as MSK, the only answer is “yes”.

I am grateful to come from a family with resilient women and a deep appreciation for the medical profession, inspired by my great-grandfather who practiced at Mass General in Boston. My mother responded proactively to my diagnosis, leveraging her network of acquaintances, which ultimately guided us to MSK.

May 2015 is a blur but what stands out in my memories from ten years ago is the incredible kindness, compassion, empathy, patience and heart of everyone I met at MSK. I was and remain today so impressed by the positivity that radiated from everyone I met at MSK. My time there included a 7 hour surgery that was slated to be a Whipple procedure but thanks to the skill of my surgeons, they were able to save many of my organs and only needed to perform a skillful distal pancreatectomy removing the head of my pancreas while leaving other organs intact.

Hearing several celebrities share lately in the news their journeys with cancer and tumors, it has caused me to reflect on my own journey now that I am marking 10 years since my diagnosis and surgery. What I can offer from what I took away from my experience is the following:

Listen to the signs your body sends you, anything abnormal or different, and be your own advocate. Assert yourself when you feel something is wrong and being missed. To this day, the doctors are still not sure if my bouts of vomiting were tied to the tumor on the head of my pancreas, but the incidents stopped – they stopped well before my surgery – but because I felt something was off, tests were performed, and the tumor was identified early, while it was still localized and confined to my pancreas.
Research the right experts and resources to treat you. If possible, don’t be bound by geographic limitations. You do not have to aimlessly march forward with whomever diagnosed you – you can, and maybe you should – but the point is, if time allows, pause, take a breath, digest the news that was just given to you, and get to work researching the best options.
Follow the guidance – for me, personally, I put my trust and faith in the treatment plan the doctors gave me. Yes, I asked questions, listened, researched the plan, but I did not second guess them and allowed myself not to add extra stress to my world by challenging their plan or trying to find alternative options. The internet tries to turn us all into a medical expert, and now with AI, you can have treatment plans “generated” for you.
Give yourself grace. By affording myself grace, I believe I was able to prevent myself from spiraling down a dark hole of worst case scenarios.
Allow yourself to have faith in the modern medical system. While positive outcomes of course are never guaranteed, you may avoid self-imposed stress if you allow yourself to believe in the medical plan and the medical team you have selected. Let them carry much of the worry burden for you.
Build a support network – be it direct family members, friends, colleagues – it is ok to lean on them. You are entitled to ask for help.

Following my surgery and subsequent two-month recovery period, I gained additional perspective and a renewed sense of gratitude for the events that occurred during the spring of 2015. I attribute my favorable outcome to both faith and fate. Over the years, I continued with regular follow-up scans at three, six, and twelve-month intervals, all of which have remained clear. A few years ago, I completed these follow-up assessments, marking my graduation from ongoing care and monitoring by the exceptional gastrointestinal team at MSK.

This milestone, though positive, brought a sense of uncertainty as I faced the future independently. Currently, I am a parent to an eleven-year-old daughter, for whom I am deeply grateful to have each day with. I continue to trust that my health will remain stable in the coming years, and place confidence in my own awareness—knowing that attentiveness to physical changes and advocating passionately for myself played critical roles in preserving my well-being.

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