Patrick Knutson

The level of outreach for Patrick has been overwhelming and brings so much joy to our hearts to know how loved he is by all of you. This will serve as an avenue  to keep you all up to date on Patrick's battle with pancreatic cancer. 

After months of testing and discomfort , Patrick Knutson was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in November 2019. He began an aggressive round of chemotherapy in which he was to go through 8 sessions, get surgery to remove the tumor and gull bladder and then another round of chemo. Patrick ran into some complications with his WBC rebounding quickly, which lead to delays. As his CA-19 levels came down we were feeling confident we had his cancer on the run. During this time period, Patrick was bouncing back  just a few days after chemo and aside from loosing his signature facial hair it was hard to tell anything was wrong. As COVID-19 began to rise in the US, Patrick's insurance company begin to push back on the original surgeon, dates and treatment plan. 


In May, after some concerns of very quick and intense rise of his CA-19 levels, Patrick was advised to go up to Swedish Medical Center for laparoscopic surgery. This was mainly to see if the cancer had spread. Unfortunately, the cancer had metastasized and had spread to his Liver. Its at this point that we were told that surgery was no longer an option, and that the cancer was terminal. 


Patrick and Dannielle were still determined as ever to keep fighting and exploring all available options. They hired on a Cancer Navigator to help explore clinical trials that would serve as his best case scenario. They changed his diet, upped his natural supplements and kept chugging along. Patrick stopped  his chemotherapy treatment at this point in order to jump start any opportunity for a clinical trials. Most clinical trials requires you to be off of chemotherapy for at least 30 days before starting and with a terminal prognosis he didn't want to waste a moment.


Between May 15th - June 30th, Patrick explored 31 clinical trials.They had to apply for each one and there is no  guarantee of acceptance.  Patrick was rejected from these trials in a combination of not meeting certain specifications and travel restrictions due to Covid-19.


In the beginning of July Patrick begins to start to feel more lethargic. His pain has increased and he is having a hard time eating and sleeping. He does a session of chemotherapy on July 6th.  He begins to feel cloudy doesn't seem to be with us. Under the advisement of some amazing family members, we took Patrick to the ER where he was treated for what they thought was an infection.  He was discharged back into Dannielle's care on 7/10/20