Making strides to fight the silent killer.
    Today hundreds of people ran down music row to support the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.
    Fox 17 was a proud sponsor of the event and our very own Erica Shaffer was the emcee for this very emotional event.
 During Nashville's First Ever PurpleStride 5K stories of loss, survival and hope were shared....
From participants who lost their parents to Pancreatic Cancer...
    Chrsiti Thompson- Merritt says, “Pancreatic Cancer is a horrible insidious disease and it took her away from us way way too early and we have to stop it.”
To event coordinators...
Kelly Sims says, “I lost my mother to pancreatic cancer when I was one so this is my way of remembering her and bringing her memory back.”
Even I shared my story and how much it meant to emcee this special event.
    Erica Shaffer says, “This is not just an event that I am emcee-ing this is very very personal to me- my grandfather died of pancreatic cancer back when I was in high school and just last week my grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer so as you know as all of you know this is a very very emotional event and a important event and it is something that is near and dear to my heart.”
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network's PurpleStride was about raising money to fund research and create hope that one day their will be a cure for the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths.
    Founder Pam Acosta- Marquardt started Pan-Can in California in 1999 after finding limited resources on pancreatic cancer for her mother who was fighting for her life.
    PurpleStride 5k's have been done all across the nation.. But Pam says Nashville was a target for the organization.
Pam Acosta-Marquardt says, “This has been my dream for the past 2 years to do this in Nashville because unfortunately this disease has really affected the world of country music.”
Here in the country music hall of fame park it was a dream come true...but those who came say there is still a lot of work to be done.
Christi Thompson- Merritt says, “We just have to remember her and keep working as hard as she worked to fight it - we have to keep working that hard.”
The inaugural event today raised more than 77 thousand dollars - for more information on the pancreatic cancer action network or how to donate - you can visit our website Fox 17 dot com and click on Fox Links.

Nashville's First Ever PurpleStride Funding Pancreatic Cancer Research Brings Hundreds to Nashville