Life is an Adventure

Dr. Geena Bell

Dr. Geena Bell, a pediatric dentist from Brooklyn, New York, got married in April 2025, but one of the most important people in her life wasn’t physically present for the celebration—her beloved mom Joanne, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2010. A seamstress sewed two swatches from Joanne’s wedding gown into Geena’s dress, a physical reminder that her mom was there with her in spirit celebrating this incredible milestone.

Joanne had always been the glue holding their family together. According to Geena, Joanne had the most generous heart, found the positive in any situation, and went the extra mile for her relatives and community; everyone admired and adored her. She showed her love through cooking and baking, creating elaborate, festive trays of holiday cookies every December for her family and friends.

In 2008, Joanne was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer following a scan her internist recommended during a routine checkup. Joanne was just 51, otherwise healthy, and had no family history of pancreatic cancer. Geena and her family, including her father and older brother, were completely blindsided and devastated by Joanne’s life-changing diagnosis and prayed she’d survive, just like Geena’s maternal grandmother had survived breast cancer years earlier.

“Hearing that my mom had pancreatic cancer was surreal, especially as a 15-year-old. I am in awe of the unwavering optimism and strength she demonstrated as she endured two years of difficult chemotherapy treatment, yet bravely insisted on going to work every day,” Geena remembers. “To help our family cope, we focused on hope and positivity, and took one day at a time, incredibly grateful to have more time with her than many pancreatic cancer patients have with their loved ones. We continued to live by her favorite saying: Life is an adventure.”

Joanne was just 53 when she died in July 2010. “I was only 17 when I lost my mom. She still had her whole life ahead of her, and we had so many memories to create together,” Geena shared, heartbroken. “People don’t know about pancreatic cancer until it personally hits them, and I don’t want other families to go through the pain my family experienced when my mom was diagnosed and later, when she passed away.”

After her mom’s passing, a family friend put Geena in touch with the Lustgarten Foundation, and she was immediately drawn to the Foundation’s commitment exclusively to pancreatic cancer research and was eager to get involved. She founded the Brooklyn Walk for Pancreatic Cancer Research in 2010, when she was still a high school student, undeterred that she had no experience planning events or fundraising and driven by an unstoppable motivation to honor her mom’s legacy of caring for others. The annual Brooklyn Walk for Pancreatic Cancer Research—taking place this year on October 26—remains the only pancreatic cancer research walk in Brooklyn, and every year the walk features raffle prizes, Zumba, music, refreshments, and a dedicated, growing community of people impacted by pancreatic cancer, including survivors, who unite for a powerful day of hope, remembrance, and action. To date, the Brooklyn Walk has raised more than $350,000 for pancreatic cancer research—an accomplishment that Geena knows would make her mom extremely proud.

“After all of the planning and hard work that goes into making the Walk a success, it’s so gratifying and uplifting for me to actually experience the event, surrounded by friends and family who have loved and respected my mom and who have been with us, year after year, since our first event,” Geena shared. “To me, Lustgarten is synonymous with pancreatic cancer research, and I’m honored to meaningfully support this organization. It’s too late for my mom, and it’s too late for my dad’s friend who recently passed away from pancreatic cancer, but it’s never too late to help others,” Geena emphasized.