This weekend I went to community outreach leadership training for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (which is commonly refered to as PanCAN.  They are pushing back on the nickname, but any 10 syllable name is begging for a good nickname in my opinion).  I'm the new affiliate coordinator for the new Boston affiliate, and I definitely needed the training.  The weekend could be described as a lot of things: inspiring, exhausting, informational, fun, food-filled, life-changing, connective, reassuring,  amazing... and the list goes on.  I came back to Boston with more new ideas and friends than I can wrap my head around.   Here is a picture of the Boston leadership team.  We're pretty awesome.  

And here's our fearless leader, Julie (the president and CEO), telling pancreatic cancer that it can talk to the hand because she ain't gonna take its crap no more.  Ok, she didn't actually say that, but it seemed like an appropriate caption. 

And Jai Pausch, the wife of Randy Pausch, was the keynote speaker at the awards dinner on Saturday night.  She is pretty much the most likable person alive.  She got up to the front and started taking pictures of the audience before she spoke. 

She talked about how her aspirations to help those affected by pancreatic cancer grew from being the person in charge of the jolly trolley who hands out snacks to patients and families who are in the hospital for chemo to being a member of the PanCAN board of directors.  It was all very moving, but as soon as she was done... 

You guessed it!  Back to taking pictures.  This was actually good because it made me feel less awkward asking to take a picture with her.  I mean, the woman clearly loves cameras! 

The next day we went to more classes and networking events and had a Q&A session with Julie and Jason, the chairman of the board.  

And then a representative from Tempur-Pedic came to talk to us about their support of PanCAN... and he gave everyone the teddy bears that their retailers sell to raise funds for us!  And the bear is made of the Tempur-Pedic foam so it is super snuggly.  If you want one of these bears, click here.  They are expensive, but the money all goes to a good cause :) 

Overall, it was a great weekend!  If you want to know any more information about Pancreatic Cancer Action Network just ask me or visit www.pancan.org.