Lincoln man remembers wife with gift for pancreatic cancer research

Jerry Varner, right, with UNMC surgical oncologist Chandra Are, M.D. Dr. Are treated Varner’s wife, Carrie, after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Varner has set up an endowment through the NU foundation to help research into the disease.

Lincoln’s Jerry Varner never wants anyone else to receive a pancreatic cancer diagnosis and be told he or she has just months to live.

It’s an experience the part-time professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln knows all too well as his wife Carrie battled the lethal disease before it took her life last April

“It’s the worst of the worst,” Varner said, recalling the day his wife was diagnosed.

A potent killer Pancreatic cancer is arguably the most lethal type of cancer. Of the estimated 32,000 Americans annually who discover they have pancreatic cancer, more than 95 percent will die within a few months or years of diagnosis.

Inspired by Carrie’s battle with the disease and his desire to see it cured, Varner created a $58,000 endowment through the University of Nebraska Foundation to be used for pancreatic cancer research.

Before her death, Carrie was treated at UNMC by surgical oncologist Chandra Are, M.D., who performed the complex “Whipple” procedure on her. Dr. Are — one of the few surgeons in the state trained in the procedure — proved to be of great comfort the Varners during Carrie’s illness.

After Varner received about $8,000 in memorials for his wife, he decided to donate $50,000 to establish a start-up fund for the endowment.