By and Dr. Rachna Shroff, a physician-scientist who spent much of her career researching treatments for gastrointestinal cancers, has died at the age of 47. She briefly battled an aggressive form of the disease she was trying to cure.
She was “one of the foremost experts on pancreatic and biliary tract cancers,” according to the American Society for Clinical Oncology. Her motto, per the organization, was, “If you can’t find the sunshine, be the sunshine.”
Earlier this year, Shroff, associate director of clinical investigations at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, was diagnosed with cancer of an unknown origin after she developed a swollen lymph node in May. By the end of the month, it had spread elsewhere in her body, and testing showed it had likely originated in her stomach or intestine.
Her medical team initially thought it was lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, but it was later confirmed to be terminal adenocarcinoma, which grows in the cells that line the organs.
Still, she attended a major cancer research conference just days after her diagnosis so she could continue to raise awareness of recent clinical breakthroughs.
“It’s been a journey,” Shroff told NBC News’ Anne Thompson of her diagnosis in a Zoom interview shortly before her death. “I’ve spent my entire life trying to eradicate cancer, primarily pancreatic cancer, but also liver cancers.”
There is no cure for her condition, which was challenging for her and her family — husband Puneet, son Sachin, 13, and daughter Simran, 17 — to wrap their minds around, especially since she’d done so much to give other patients more options and time.
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In her work at University of Arizona, she helped move forward hundreds of clinical trials, Dr. Dan Theodorescu, endowed chair for the director of the cancer center and Shroff’s boss, told Thompson.
“That’s really exciting because she’s been able to build the clinical trial operation very effectively. And ... what she’s done for the institution, in addition to doing her own clinical trial and seeing patients, she also managed to recruit some very, very bright young people,” he said.
It’s part of the legacy that Shroff said she hopes will “outlive” her, calling it her “No. 1 credo.”
An award for young cancer researchers has also been created in her name, with $1.35 million already raised by friends, colleagues and supporters to ensure the award continues for years to come.
Beyond her career’s lasting impact, Shroff said her main priority was her children: “That’s really all that matters here to me.”
Simran and Sachin each shared with Thompson the quality they most love about their mom.
“Her tenacity ... all she does is she pushes through whatever, and she figures out how to do it and how to be successful personally and professionally, and I really admire that,” Simran said.
“I would probably say just how loving she is,” Sachin added.
Rachna and Puneet Shroff were just months away from their 20th wedding anniversary when she passed.
“Puneet has been the reason I’ve marched forward. And his ability to understand my vantage point, and his ability ... to just stand by my side,” Shroff said.
Although they weren’t able to celebrate this major milestone together, they did try to embrace the small but joyful moments these past few months, such as Samrin visiting colleges and Sachin’s baseball games.
“To have no cares, so to speak, in the world, and then all of them at your feet all at once, that’s both overwhelming,” Puneet said at the time. “But it also teaches you resilience, and I hope that teaches our children resilience. I hope, for Rachna’s sake, it gives her strength, courage.”
