lost their lives off to this disease is long. pavarotti, michael landon, donna reed among them. professor randy posh shared the physical pain of it with diane sawyer. little bit tired. little bit weak. bloated feeling. i eventually got yellow skin jaundice and itching. hope and living in the moment was the message from the late patrick swayze. i pulled off ten months when most people would have been dead before now. i can live through this. i live through the next one. keep throwing at me. reporter: others have fought to live another day. justice ruth bader ginsburg underwent pancreatic surgery in 2009 and 18 days later returned to the supreme court. so, who gets pancreatic cancer? men are more likely than women.