Motivating force
As much as she wants to change the prognosis for patients like herself, O'Hagan believes this kind of collaborative research will have ramifications for diseases beyond the one that has changed her life, including diabetes, stroke, Alzheimer's, and lung and prostate cancers.
"I'm confident this work will give us a greater understanding of how neuroendocrine cells, which are everywhere in the body, function — as well as what happens in the gut," she says. "I hope it will also benefit people who have carcinoid but don't know it. In my case, I wasn't diagnosed for years."
By bestowing research grants; by jetting across the country to confer with scientists and fellow advocates; by providing a website and blog; and by tapping friends to support the foundation (including taking part in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge bike-a-thon and Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk), O'Hagan is out to kindle optimism and soothe family members' hurting hearts by working toward improved treatments and, eventually, a cure for carcinoid cancer.
"I don't feel sorry for myself," she says. "I consider myself fortunate to have the life that I do, the family that I've had, and so many wonderful friends. For a long time, I didn't even want to tell people that I had cancer; I didn't want them to look at me differently.
"But the thing is," O'Hagan adds, "I have to get out there and do what I can to make a difference."
