A county of just over 5,000 people raises tens of thousands of dollars to support people with cancer and cancer research every single year.

What’s their secret to such sustained grassroots fundraising? Members of the Big Stone County Cancer Support Group of Minnesota will share their success when they donate to pancreatic cancer research efforts at NDSU. The group will donate 25 percent of this year’s fundraising efforts on Friday, June 7 at 11 a.m. at NDSU Sudro Hall, 1401 Albrecht Blvd and will visit research labs.

Big Stone County in Minnesota is about a two-hour drive southeast of Fargo-Moorhead. Since 2005, the Big Stone County Cancer Support Group has been raising money for those in the county going through cancer treatment to help cover costs not paid for by insurance or helping to pay for transportation, lodging, wigs and other costs incurred through treatment.

While most of the money raised goes to support their neighbors who may be going through cancer treatment, the group also donates 25 percent each year to different types of cancer research in North Dakota, Minnesota or South Dakota.

“Everybody’s touched by cancer one way or another,” says Lori Larson, outreach coordinator for the Ortonville Area Health Service and member of the Big Stone County Cancer Support Group.

At NDSU’s Center for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Strategies in Pancreatic Cancer, researchers focus on new developments to detect pancreatic cancer sooner, as well as ways to target drug delivery directly to cancer cells.

Sanku Mallik, professor of pharmaceutical sciences, and D.K. Srivastava, a James A. Meier Professor of chemistry and biochemistry, lead the Center at NDSU.

“We greatly appreciate the donation from Big Stone County Cancer Support Group to support our research to advance diagnosis and treatment for pancreatic cancer,” says Dr. Sanku Mallik, co-leader of the Center at NDSU.

“Meeting with those engaged in support of cancer patients or affected by the disease helps fuel our commitment to research that we hope will help patients in the future,” says Mallik.

The current five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is just over 9 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The research Center at NDSU was established in 2016 with support from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, under the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) program of the National Institutes of Health, grant 1P20GM109024.

As a student focused, land grant, research institution, we serve our citizens.