Danielle Buchanan, a proud Texan, devoted wife, and mother of three boys shares her deeply personal and inspiring journey on this episode of the Project Purple Podcast with host Dino Verrelli. A registered nurse and lifelong picture of health, Danielle reflects on how her life changed suddenly in February 2021, when unusual symptoms after a family Super Bowl celebration led to imaging that revealed a mass on her pancreas. Just 48 hours later, on her 48th birthday, she was diagnosed with Stage 2A pancreatic cancer.

She describes her grueling treatment journey, including chemotherapy, radiation, and the complex Whipple procedure, and how she has fortunately had no evidence of disease since early 2022. Danielle also opens up about her survivor’s guilt, and emphasizes the critical role of hope and community support, from family members who cared for her three boys to the “prayer warriors” who surrounded her.

Danielle reveals that during a difficult period of depression post-treatment, she felt a clear calling from God to return to nursing, but with renewed purpose. Now working full-time as a radiation nurse in an oncology infusion center, she supports patients undergoing chemotherapy, and Danielle shares that she draws from her own journey to offer compassion, insight, and hope.

She smiles as she shares how she is now living life to the fullest and encourages others facing pancreatic cancer that they can, too. Danielle urges everyone to advocate for themselves and to “hold on to hope like it’s your job,” reminding us all that even a difficult diagnosis doesn’t define the life you can live.

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To learn more or donate to Project Purple’s mission of a world without pancreatic cancer, please visit www.projectpurple.org.