(File Photo of State Representative Rob Matzie)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) Before the nationally recognized Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month this November, the Pennsylvania House adopted state Rep. Rob Matzie’s resolution to raise awareness about the disease in a vote of 202-1 on October 21st.

Pancreatic cancer is expected to kill over 52,000 people in the United States this year. 

Matzie introduced H.R. 538 which makes a designation for November of 2026 as “Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month” in the state of Pennsylvania, so people can be aware of a disease that is still one of the most difficult forms of cancer to treat. 

According to the American Cancer Society, it is estimated that more than 67,500 new cases of pancreatic cancer cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2026 and that more than 52,500 people will die of the disease.

Matzie confirms that common symptoms of pancreatic cancer include jaundice, and that may cause yellowing of the skin and eyes, dark urine, itchy skin, and light-colored, greasy or floating stools; as well as abdominal pain that spreads to the sides or back, sudden-onset diabetes or diabetes that becomes harder to manage, unintended weight loss and poor appetite, nausea and vomiting, weakness and fatigue and unexplained blood clots.