The Fleisher Family Story and Our Experience Battling Stage IV Pancreatic Cancer
Danny Fleisher was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer on January 23, 2025, which he bravely battled for 21 months alongside his wife of 34 years, Laurel, their four sons, and their significant others (Zach & Syd, Brandon & Cristina, Sammy & Lindsay, and Jonah). He passed away peacefully at home on October 13, 2026, surrounded by his family who loved him so dearly.
January 23, 2025, was the day that our lives were flipped upside down. On that day, what began as a seemingly innocuous holiday illness, turned into Danny’s diagnosis of stage IV pancreatic cancer which had metastasized to his liver. Danny’s symptoms first presented themselves while our family was travelling together in December 2024; he began experiencing constipation and, on several occasions near the end of the trip, he felt ill and vomited. His constipation did not let up upon our return home and Danny went to his family doctor who thought that he simply had a case of traveller’s constipation and prescribed him with stool softeners and laxatives.
Despite taking the prescribed medications for a week, Danny continued throwing up after meals and exhibited a decreased appetite, so his doctor increased the dosages and ordered an X-ray which showed that his bowels were full. At the beginning of the third week post-holiday, Cristina, Brandon’s fiancée and a surgical resident that was working at Sunnybrook at the time, recommended that Danny go to the emergency department for a CT scan to investigate what she thought was likely to be a blockage. It was from that CT scan, on January 23, 2025, that we discovered that Danny had pancreatic cancer. The tumour had wrapped itself around his duodenum – the first part of the small intestine – and had been blocking any food from passing through, which explained Danny’s constipation and vomiting. Devastatingly, we also learned that the cancer was stage IV – it had spread to his liver. We were shattered.
Early the following morning, Danny had an emergency bypass surgery to restore the functionality of his gastrointestinal system and relieve his symptoms by creating a new pathway for food to exit his stomach into his small intestine. The boys all rallied and came to be with us in the hospital 24/7 as we started our journey fighting this insidious disease. Danny spent eight nights in the hospital recovering from the surgery and during that time had a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis.
We are beyond fortunate to have been placed in the care of Dr. Michael Raphael, who was Danny’s oncologist at Sunnybrook. On Valentine’s Day 2025, just a few weeks after the bypass surgery, Danny began his chemotherapy journey with FOLFIRINOX, a very strong four-drug combination used to treat advanced-stage pancreatic cancer. He braved his way through the brutal side effects with the same positivity and stoicism he had modeled throughout his life.
While Danny responded well to the chemotherapy and the tumours started to shrink, chemotherapy alone is not a cure, and Dr. Raphael found a clinical trial for Danny in New York City at NYU Langone Hospital for an experimental CAR T-Cell therapy that we hoped would vanquish this terrible disease. We moved to New York City on October 23, 2025, to begin the treatment which, unfortunately, did not work as the tumours continued to grow. Danny restarted chemotherapy in February 2026 but the cancer had become resistant to treatment. Around this time, however, a new breakthrough medication called Daraxonrasib became available in the United States and Danny began treatment in June of 2026, which appeared to be fighting the cancer but brought with it unmanageable side effects that led to a lengthy hospital stay in August and September.
Our boys and their significant others, our extended family, and our incredibly supportive group of friends all rallied around us and made dealing with this devastating diagnosis more manageable. We feel extraordinarily blessed for the support of our community, our friends and our family.
Danny turned 60 on July 26, 2025, and six of our close couple friends decided that the most meaningful birthday gift to recognize this milestone would be to make a donation to Dr. Raphael’s pancreatic cancer research and care at Sunnybrook Hospital. They donated $130,000 to start off this fund, and that amount has since grown as others heard of the heartfelt gesture. We are so appreciative of their generosity and support. Today the fund continues to grow to help fund in perpetuity an Israeli fellowship in advanced GI cancers at Sunnybrook Hospital to aid Dr. Raphael and his team and teach others. If you are able, we would be extremely grateful if you could donate to this fund so that others can benefit from Sunnybrook’s groundbreaking research and knowledge to help in the fight against this horrible disease.
With love and gratitude,
The Fleisher Family