When you dig into the detail, you will see that she was actually diagnosed with a Neuroendocrine Tumor of the Pancreas, ergo, a totally different cancer. So, what you might be thinking but my point is that the because of the headline, the context of all discussions will be that she has survived a cancer with a 5-year survival rate of around 10% rather than the much higher survival rate figure found in pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors (on the basis that almost certainly has a well differentiated NET at an early stage).  Consequently, Neuroendocrine Cancer will lose out on awareness just as it did with Steve Jobs and Aretha Franklin (and probably many others we don’t even know about). 

So how did this happen?  What are the sources of the words and terms used in this story?   

You can see from the link above, it’s an interview and so while the source might seem to be People, they probably would have been paraphrasing the interview from words Maria herself has said.   Perhaps Maria is quoting from her written medical information or quoting from her doctor.  Perhaps People decided on the headline.   I doubt if this will ever be made clear. 

It does mention Neuroendocrine Tumor in the text, “……a 3.9 cm. mass on her pancreas, with a subsequent biopsy confirming that it was a Stage 2 pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, a form of cancer. ” But the headline is so key to how others will interpret this news, many people only read the headline and scroll on.  Many stations have been reporting it adding a “what you need to know about pancreatic cancer” section, citing statistics and other medical information about a totally different cancer than the one she actually has which is so different in prognostic and therapy terms.  Hopefully downstream, reporting will become more accurate.  Perhaps the big US NET organisations will make contact with Maria and help with that. 

What can we do to correct the record? Not a lot but ….

1. If you’re on twitter and following me @ronnyallan1, then seek out this tweet and retweet or join in the thread. 

2. You could contact People direct to explain why their article headline is misleading. Their contact details to send feedback on content is an email to feedback@people.com. If you would rather send them a letter, you can reach them at 225 Liberty Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10281.

3.  Share this post so others get the right info. 

4.  Also share this post on my main Facebook page – click here