'Kate's Journey': Ogunquit man fights pancreatic cancer with walk from Cape Cod to Maine

OGUNQUIT, Maine — Tim Duffy took a 155-mile walk. He has a reason for it all: the date on which he started, the distance he is covering, the destination he reached Sunday, Sept. 3.

Duffy is raising awareness and funds for the fight against pancreatic cancer, from which his wife, Kate, died a mere six weeks after she was officially diagnosed.

“She was a wonderful, beautiful person,” Duffy said on the 10th day of his journey on foot. “She loved to laugh and enjoy herself.”

Kate taught elementary school in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her students loved her, Duffy said.

“I called her The Kid Whisperer,” he added.

She loved all the New England home teams, including the Patriots, the Celtics, and the Bruins. She traveled the world, could fix any fixer-upper, and adored her dogs, Finnegan, Asparagus, and Baron.

Duffy started his walk on Aug. 21, the date when he and Kate got married and celebrated 40 wedding anniversaries. He chose Seagull Beach in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, as his starting point because that is where he and Kate met in the late 1970s. For his finish line, he naturally set his sights on his home in Ogunquit.

Ogunquit was couple's happy place

Duffy and his wife lived in their native Massachusetts for much of their married life, but they pinpointed their retirement destination early.

“We took a vacation to Ogunquit in 1995,” Duffy said. “We loved the beach and started going there every year. We eventually bought a condo because we wanted to retire there.”

About four or five years ago, they did just that, after Kate finished teaching and Duffy wrapped up his career in the pharmaceutical industry. Every morning, Kate walked at Ogunquit Beach, living her life “the way life should be,” as her obituary said, referring to Maine’s slogan.

Pancreatic cancer took her life quickly

Kate started having back pain about a year ago, Duffy said. She visited a chiropractor a few times, but to no avail. Her back pain persisted, enough so that Duffy said he started urging her to go to the hospital to have a doctor take a closer look at her back.

Last October, Kate arrived home from the supermarket and told Duffy that she felt like her legs were not supporting her.

“Three days later, she couldn’t stand up at all,” Duffy said.

Doctors took a look. The news was not good. A tumor was wrapped around her spine.

On Oct. 28, 2022, Kate was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

On Dec. 12, 2022, she was gone.

She was 65. In addition to Duffy, she is survived by the two children they raised, Courtney and Jared, who are now adults.

'Kate's Journey' goal is to make progress against pancreatic cancer

Duffy called his long walk “Kate’s Journey,” as the course from that beach in West Yarmouth to their new home in Ogunquit precisely spans the 45 years they had shared their lives together. Duffy said he stuck to Route 1 and back roads and averaged between 12 and 14 miles each day. One day, though, he walked as many as 16 miles, his distance extended by a search for a hotel.

At the 10-day mark, Duffy had raised around $42,000, all of which is going toward the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, or PANCAN, as it is also known.

“People have been unbelievable,” Duffy said.

PANCAN is a California-based organization with a global reach. The network provides resources and several kinds of support for individuals who are facing pancreatic cancer.

“We’re here to help,” the network says on its website. “We provide more resources and speak with more pancreatic cancer patients and caregivers than any other organization in the world. No one should have to face pancreatic cancer alone.”

Anyone who would like to contribute to Duffy’s fundraising efforts, can do so at support.pancan.org/goto/katesjourney2023.

According to PANCAN, pancreatic cancer is the result of abnormal cells growing, dividing irregularly, and forming a tumor in the pancreas, the gland that makes enzymes that help digestion and hormones that regulate blood-sugar levels.

'Warning signs are not clear'

The pancreas is located in the abdomen, between the stomach and the spine. Undetected, a tumor in the pancreas can spread throughout the body, often to the liver, abdominal walls, lungs, bones and lymph nodes, according to PANCAN.

“It’s just an awful situation,” Duffy said.

And a tricky and insidious one, he added. Duffy said that is what he most wants people to realize.

“The warning signs are not clear,” he said.

All sorts of tests can tell you what health crisis you are facing, he said. A mammogram, for example, will pick up on breast cancer early on, for example.

“There is no such test to detect pancreatic cancer,” Duffy said.

As a result, pancreatic cancer has a reputation for being quick and merciless. Kate’s six weeks of life after her diagnosis is an example. But the truth is often that the cancer can build over time and go unsuspected if believed to be some other source of pain or discomfort.

Indeed, PANCAN describes symptoms as often being “vague and unexplained.” Pain in one’s back and abdomen is one potential symptom. Jaundice, weight loss, diminished appetite, nausea, and a change in one’s stool are others.

More than 64,000 people are expected to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year, according to PANCAN. That’s an average of 175 people per day. The disease is the tenth most common cancer in the United States, the organization says.

Family support helps him push through

The disease is a harrowing journey for those who have to take it – which is why Duffy took his long journey by foot, so that awareness of that struggle may spread, funds may be raised, and others, who also share the fight Kate fought, may be helped, comforted, and one day healed.

Duffy may have walked solo on that 155-mile journey, but he was not alone. He credits his daughter, Courtney, who has experience in public relations, with helping him raise awareness, and his son, Jared, who works in the health care field, with getting him in shape for what on Aug. 21 was that long road ahead.

"I think, for all three of us, the planning and, finally, the execution of this walk has paralleled our grief," Duffy said. "I know it has given me something to focus on during a very difficult time."

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Ogunquit man fights pancreatic cancer, walking from Cape Cod to Maine