116 SEENA MAGOWITZ FOUNDATION Pancreatic Cancer Ambassadors HonorHealth to thank the staff members for their ongoing support. Dr. Von Hoff insisted on seeing her, and his words were some she wouldn’t soon forget. “You did everything right,” he noted, telling her she was a brave woman to walk back in there so soon after John’s passing. “Never second-guess anything you did for your husband.” Natalie knew right then that this was the man who had the best chance of anyone at finding a cure, and she told him she’d dedicate herself to helping him do it. After enlisting the advice of Cathy Mast, the idea for the John E. Sabga Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer came to be in a living room, born amongst family and friends. Natalie set a lofty goal to raise $1 million for Dr. Von Hoff, his research work at TGen and her own husband, who’d lost his own pancreatic cancer battle far too soon. The foundation officially launched November16, 2017. In February 2018, Dr. Von Hoff flew to Trinidad for the foundation’s inaugural gala. While immensely grateful for the funds raised by the John E. Sabga Foundation to further pancreatic cancer research in the United States, he wanted to do more to benefit the island directly. “He said, ‘I feel bad that you’re raising all this money and sending it away,’” Natalie recalled, and it was this realization that paved the way for the John E. Sabga Clinical Trial, which, while in effect in Arizona, will be the first clinical trial ever done in Trinidad and Tobago. Through the John E. Sabga Foundation, which has raised more than $600,000 for pancreatic cancer research, to date, and the John E. Sabga Clinical Trial, “ ...Natalie believes her dedication to the cause is her subconscious at work. “I think I’m still trying to save my husband — I’m still trying to find that cure,” she said. “Now, I feel like I’m taking care of him through taking care of other people.”

SEENA MAGOWITZ FOUNDATION 117 Pancreatic Cancer Ambassadors Natalie and her team hope to raise awareness about pancreatic cancer throughout the United States and Trinidad & Tobago, which has one of the highest rates of diabetes per capita in the world. Diabetes is a risk factor and potential warning sign of pancreatic cancer, so expanding education is especially critical in this region. While many people in Natalie’s shoes might find it difficult to spend so much time focusing on a disease that claimed a loved one’s life, Natalie believes her dedication to the cause is her subconscious at work. “I think I’m still trying to save my husband — I’m still trying to find that cure,” she said. “Now, I feel like I’m taking care of him through taking care of other people.”