Keeping Hope Alive 

Sally Benson 

Sally Benson describes her late husband, Gary, as simply the best. “He was witty, intuitive, compassionate—tall in stature with a heart twice as large as he was and a warm, inviting personality that drew everyone in,” she shared. “In fact, at church functions, he was the one all the women lined up to dance with. He was a lifelong learner who enjoyed cooking turkey dinners, tinkering with his antique Cadillac, gardening, dabbling in finance, and doing remodeling projects.” But most of all, Gary loved being with his family, including his and Sally’s daughter, Sarah, and their twin sons, Curtis and Matthew. 

Gary was also a planner and had mapped out his retirement from a successful engineering career, excited for this next chapter beginning in 2016. However, instead of the retirement he envisioned, he developed health problems that completely upended his plans. In January of 2016, Gary and Sally were driving to Florida from their home in the Chicago suburbs when they had to stop at an urgent care center because Gary wasn’t feeling well and was jaundiced. From there, he was admitted to the hospital for extensive evaluation of his gallbladder and liver, but doctors were unable to identify the cause of the jaundice at first. Shortly after, he underwent a procedure to insert a stent in his common bile duct—responsible for carrying bile from the liver and gallbladder, through the pancreas, to the small intestine—and to collect cell samples from the surrounding tissue. A small mass blocking the common bile duct, which tested positive for cancerous cells, was discovered, but the origin of the cancer wasn’t known.  

A few weeks later, Gary had surgery to resect his gallbladder and common bile duct. Follow-up pathology reports found that three tissue samples taken during the procedure tested negative for metastatic cancer, two tested positive for low-grade to high-grade dysplasia—an abnormal development or growth of cells that in some instances can be a precursor to cancer—and one tested positive for acute inflammation. However, no follow-up scans, chemotherapy, or radiation were recommended. In fact, the doctor told Gary he would “go on to live and enjoy retirement.” 

Eager to finally embark on their retirement plans, Sally and Gary traveled to Wisconsin and Indiana in the spring of 2016. By mid-July, though, Gary started experiencing abdominal discomfort. By August, Gary was no longer the jovial, funny, inquisitive man he had always been; he was uncharacteristically quiet, exhausted, and unwell while driving home from a trip to Boston. “He took medication for pre-diabetes, he lost weight, and he started to wilt, like a flower in the hot sun. We feared the worst,” Sally recalls.  

When they arrived home from Boston, Gary’s bloodwork showed the alarming presence of an elevated pancreatic cancer enzyme. Gary and Sally were devastated and numb when his subsequent CT scan confirmed metastasized pancreatic cancer—a mass on the head of Gary’s pancreas and cancerous lesions throughout his liver. Because the cancer had already spread, Gary wasn’t a candidate for the Whipple procedure, and he didn’t qualify for a clinical trial he had hoped to join. Chemotherapy was the best option for him, a treatment regimen that a second oncologist at a leading cancer hospital agreed with. He received FOLFIRINOX every two weeks for eight cycles, but his side effects were so severe that his oncologist reduced the dosage. Gary passed away on January 23, 2017, just four months after his pancreatic cancer diagnosis, and left behind a grieving family and community. “I’d give everything I have to get Gary back. I wish he had more time. He was talking about and planning for retirement his whole life, and he never got to enjoy it,” Sally shared. 

Following Gary’s passing, Sally’s son Matthew found the Lustgarten Foundation through online research, and the family agreed it was the best organization for people to send memorial contributions to in Gary’s honor. Sally’s best friend’s daughter also suggested they participate in Lustgarten’s Walk for Pancreatic Cancer Research in Naperville. Gary and Sally’s niece had always called Gary “Gar Bear” because he was like a big teddy bear, and Sally decided it was the perfect name for their Walk team. Over the past nine years, Team Gar Bear has become one of the Naperville Walk’s top fundraising teams, garnering nearly $200,000 for Lustgarten’s research initiatives since 2017. 

A dedicated crowd of at least 50 of Gary and Sally’s friends, neighbors, and relatives, from the Chicago area and beyond, attend the Naperville Walk and then gather for a barbecue at Sally’s home to reminisce and honor Gary’s life and legacy. Gary’s toddler granddaughter, Imogene, also attends the Walk and is getting to know her grandfather through the cherished memories that everyone on Team Gar Bear shares. “It’s bittersweet because I know Gary would’ve been the best grandfather to Imogene and to her newborn baby sister.” 

“I enjoy the Naperville Walk because I know I’m not alone. Everyone there has a story to share, and the world needs to know that so many people are suffering from pancreatic cancer,” Sally emphasized. “The late Pope Francis said, ‘Don’t let your hope be stolen,’ and Lustgarten is doing the hard work to make sure that hope is not lost when facing a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. I see so much more hope now than when Gary was diagnosed.” 

Sally encourages family members impacted by pancreatic cancer to do whatever they can to foster that hope. She recommends getting involved by joining a walk, hosting/attending an event, or volunteering with patients at a local cancer treatment center. “No one knows how devastating this disease is better than the family members who have experienced every step with their loved ones. I know at first it can be uncomfortable asking friends and relatives for donations, but that’s a fleeting feeling compared to how your life is turned upside down when your loved one is diagnosed. Those contributions are critical to increasing research leading to new treatments and, eventually, a cure.”  

Sally is inspired and uplifted by everyone who chooses to support pancreatic cancer research. “To Lustgarten’s donors—thank you. You understand that nothing feels as important and rewarding as helping others. You are keeping hope alive.”