November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, and the Michigan-based Sky Foundation will host its annual lunch fundraiser from noon to 3 p.m., November 6, at the MGM Grand Hotel, in Detroit. Proceeds from the event will help fund early detection research and awareness for pancreatic cancer.

Keynote speaker and Director of the Pancreatic Cancer Program at the University of Michigan Health System, Diane Simeone, M.D., will give an update on current research programs at the event. Guests will have the opportunity to bid on items in a live and silent auction organized by event chairs Mary Beth Castorri and Niki Gallaudet. “We have some outstanding auction items this year, thanks to our extremely generous donors. Highlights include sports memorabilia and tickets, vacation getaways and even a trip to see sold-out Hamilton in New York City,” explains Castorri.

Sheila Sky Kasselman, a nine-year survivor of pancreatic cancer, began the Sky Foundation in June 2008. “At Sky, we are funding researchers who are making real progress against this disease, and we are also an important resource for those who are newly diagnosed,” she says.