Acton, Mass. — For the Takacs family of Acton, purple is more than a color.
On Sunday, Nov. 20, Alison Takacs plans to take part in the Purple Light National Vigil for Hope in Copley Square in Boston, in which participants will listen to the names of those who have lost their battle to pancreatic cancer.
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Each time a name is read, a purple glow stick will be broken, to create a cloud of purple light in honor of their memories.
The name of her husband, James Takacs, a Boston attorney and law professor, will be among those that are read aloud.
The event is a fundraiser and function of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network; this year marks the first time the network’s Boston affiliate is participating.
Since her husband’s death in 2008 at age 47, Takacs has tried to channel her grief into ways to raise awareness and promote a proactive approach to finding effective treatment.
“The legislation is the biggest piece,” Takacs said. “Not telling the scientists how to do science, but to make them come up with a plan.”
A key part of that, she said, is proposed legislation — known as the National Cancer Education and Research Act — that would direct the National Cancer Institute to create a strategic plan to address the disease.
Takacs said she has reached out senators John Kerry and Scott Brown, as well as U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, for their support.
Advocates say they would also like to see more public awareness and more media attention about pancreatic cancer.
“Part of the reason we haven’t gotten as much coverage as that we haven’t had the survivor base,” said Michele Wood, spokesman for the Boston affiliate of the Pancreatic Cancer Acton Network.
She said, because the prognosis for most pancreatic cancer patients is so poor, there are few who are battling the disease who are in a position to act as spokesmen, which leaves the task, often, to loved ones.
Wood said, if any good can come of the recent deaths of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and actor Patrick Swayze to different forms of the disease, it is such high-profile public figures have generated more interest.
“It has done a lot for the organization,” Wood said. “A lot of companies have come forward and will think about doing something. Any time a big name celebrity has a disease, it does bring awareness to it.”
Local, national measures
The Takacs family ordeal began in 2008, when James Takacs was diagnosed with so-called Stage Four pancreatic cancer. He died in November 2008, just months after his diagnosis.
Since then, his family has talked with their friends, raised money for cancer research and sought to understand the fatal disease. Most recently, they traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with lawmakers and ask them to help fund further research.
In the meantime, Takacs said, she does what she can, through fundraising efforts such as the Purple Stride walk for pancreatic cancer, also sponsored by the network.
Her daughters have asked friends to donate money in lieu of birthday presents, she said.
She posts Facebook messages and even taking her cause, literally, on the road.
“I painted the back of my car the website, knowitfightitendit.org,” she said. “I do at least one Facebook pancreatic cancer awareness post every day. Just the other day, a friend said, ‘I saw your post, and I signed up.’”
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