Mindy Kaling is getting in on the fight against pancreatic cancer.
The “Mindy Project” creator stars in a new PSA for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, and in it she opens up about the experience of losing her mother to the illness.
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Kaling’s mom, Swati Chokalingam, was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer in 2011, and passed away soon after in 2012.
“I remember at that time, that really felt like the moment in my life where I had to become a real grown up,” said Kaling while on set for the PSA. “And I had to be strong because she couldn’t see me weak or broken by the news – I wanted to give her hope.”
After her mother died, Kaling made supporting PanCAN one of her priorities.
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“PanCAN provided resources for my family when my mother was diagnosed, and that’s why it’s important to me to be part of this campaign,” she said. “I think it would make my mother so happy to know that I’m doing something to help other families who are going through what my family went through because it was the greatest trial of our lives.”
Pancreatic cancer has received serious attention recently, following the deaths of Alex Trebek, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Lewis. The disease has an overall five-year survival rate of just 10 per cent.
