Pancreatic ductal carcinoma is the most common form of pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic juice is a liquid containing these enzymes that collects in a pipe or tube called the pancreatic duct, which empties into the duodenum and mixes with food passing by. The pancreas is the yellow organ in the picture and one of its main functions is to make proteins called enzymes that aid in the digestion of food. The small pipe or tube connecting the gallbladder with the duodenum is called the bile duct. Bile is stored in the gallbladder until it’s needed and then it’s pumped into the small intestine when food moves from the stomach to a part of the small intestine called the duodenum. The gallbladder contains bile, a liquid substance made in the liver that helps the body to digest fat in the diet. The gallbladder is the green organ located under the liver on the left side of the picture. To understand this better, let’s start with the anatomy of the organs. Some experts think that they’re just two different names for essentially the same thing. Why the confusion? For a lot of reasons, it’s hard to tell these cancers apart. Other articles say it was pancreatic cancer. Some reports say Sharon Jones had cancer of the bile duct. Pancreatic Cancer: What’s the difference? The film Miss Sharon Jones! was released on July 29, 2016. I get up on the stage and the pains seem to go away for a while.” But Jones remained upbeat, telling Billboard’s Soul Sister podcast: “I’m not ready to give up yet. Doctors found cancer cells in her stomach, lymph nodes and lungs, and she’s back on chemotherapy. Jones continued to sing, touring with Hall & Oats, even though she was diagnosed with a recurrence of pancreatic cancer in May 2016.
Although she at first questioned whether to continue filming, Jones realized she needed to continue, telling NPR, “Doing the film was also my therapy, and I knew that it would help someone out there with cancer, or going through it, as long as I inspired someone.”
These events were captured by filmmaker Barbara Kopple who had already planned to make a documentary about Jones’ life and career, but who now unexpectedly, was also documenting her cancer battle. In February 2014, Jones made a triumphant return to the road with her band, promoting a new album, Give the People What They Want. The surgery was followed by chemotherapy, a slow, difficult recovery. They had to cut me right across my diaphragm, all the way down to my navel.” Then they built me another bile duct and connected it to my stomach. They had to remove my gall bladder, the head of my pancreas and they took out a foot and a half of my small intestine. Jones underwent extensive surgery, telling Rolling Stone, “On the 10th of June I had the Whipple procedure. Luckily we caught it really early and fast and the doctors say it’s operable and curable! I will be having surgery very soon and will have to rest and recover.” We just found out that I have a stage-one tumor on my bile duct. “Over the last few weeks I haven’t felt good and I didn’t know what was going on…. In a statement to The Guardian, Jones explained: In June 2013, Jones had been forced to cancel her tour when she was diagnosed with Stage 1 bile duct cancer. “She was surrounded by her loved ones, including the Dap-Kings.” “We are deeply saddened to announce that Sharon Jones has passed away after a heroic battle against pancreatic cancer. Soul singer Sharon Jones, lead singer of funk/soul/R&B band Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, has lost her over three year battle with pancreatic cancer.