Inside Track

  •  
Stay up to date with all Pancreatic Cancer Action Network news.

In Conversation: Interview with Tripp Razor, PurpleStride Chair, Raleigh-Durham Affiliate

Raleigh-Durham PanCAN PurpleStride Chair Tripp Razor speaks with Community Engagement Coordinator Paula Mukherjee about his volunteer journey and recent appointment to the Volunteer Advisory Council (VAC); his term began on July 1. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.


Paula: Congrats on your appointment to the VAC! I know everyone's really excited to have you onboard. I'd love to hear more about your volunteer background and your journey to the VAC. First, what initially brought you to PanCAN?

Tripp: My mom got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January of 2014. Of course, when she got diagnosed, just like most people, it was already stage IV. We talked just about every day, but Monday was our day. I hate Mondays, but I embrace it by saying “Happy Monday” to everybody, because I don't get a chance to talk to my lady anymore on Mondays.

There was one Sunday at church. It was in December. A lady at the church said, “You don't look good, you don't look like yourself.” [My mom] got taken to the hospital and it happened to be the week of Christmas. We basically spent the whole week of Christmas in the hospital with her. The doctors at the time didn't know what was going on. They ran tests and said, “Oh, you just have cysts.” And my mom said, “Well, that's no big deal, I've had cysts before.” The cysts were on the pancreas and obviously turned out to be a tumor and cancerous. My mom had pancreatic cancer for about a year and a half before she died. She died on May 31, 2015.

At the time, you're sad, you're angry. What could I have done? My thing is this: instead of being sad or angry – and I still was at times – why not try to help another family out? I know I couldn't have been the only person crying in the parking lot. I can't help my mom; what can I do? You want to have a brave face in front of your loved ones. You don't want them to see you sad and get them down.

I just wanted people to have more information than what I had back in 2013, 2014, [and] 2015. It seems like we're not progressing fast enough. But in 2014, it was only like 4% or 5% survival rate? Now we're at 11%. So, we're headed in the right direction.

Paula: Definitely. How did you find PanCAN initially?

Tripp: Online, through my research. I want to say it was either Facebook or something else where something popped up and it was a PurpleLight ceremony here in Raleigh. At first, I thought “Oh, that's going to be too sad. It's too soon.” My mom had just passed away. I [then thought], “No, I'm going to go ahead and go.” I met Liz [Johnson], who is our Affiliate Chair at the booth, and she gave me her business card and we connected. I went to my first meeting, and I was hooked. At first, I just wanted to get my feet wet and be a worker bee. The first year I was in the accounting tent at PurpleStride.

I remember our first meeting [to discuss the PurpleStride Chair role]. Liz and her mom, Miss Carol, were there first and I was the next person to arrive. Miss Carol said, “So, Tripp, how do you feel about being our PurpleStride Chair?” And I said, “Oh, I’ve only been here a year.” That didn’t matter. She said, “You won't be alone. You're going to have help.” I said, “Miss Carol, give me a week or two.” I think she called me back in six days and said, “You're going to be our PurpleStride Chair, right?” And I said, “Yes, Miss Carol, I will.” People don't say no to Miss Carol. It's just the way that she is. People tell her yes most of the time.

Paula: You need people like that!

Tripp: Exactly, exactly.

Paula: You have been a volunteer for several years and we have talked about what brought you to PanCAN, but what has motivated you to stay year after year?

Tripp: Year after year? Going back to our purple family. We have a tightknit group here in the Raleigh-Durham market; we want the best for PurpleStride and for our survivors. And the connections I've made with people throughout PanCAN, no matter whether they're in Columbus or Cleveland or Portland or Texas. I mean, everywhere. People really do say, “Hey, if you need anything, let me know.” Or people reach out to me: “Hey Tripp, I have a new PurpleStride Chair, can you share what you all do in Raleigh?” And that's what keeps me going.

Paula: Definitely. What are your some of your favorite memories from volunteering?

Tripp: PurpleStride. Seeing the joy on people's faces year after year. I tell people you're going to have a range of emotions. You can be happy, you can be sad, you may dance. And it’s good to see the faces and [hear] the feedback that people give us like, “I really like the improvements that you all made” and “Thank you for the time.”

Paula: I like what you said about the range of emotions. It's a place where you can laugh, and you can cry, and everyone understands either of those emotions.

Tripp: To be completely honest, I cry every PurpleStride. Most of the time I cry in the morning, either driving to [the venue] at four or five o’clock in the morning or as I'm out by myself setting up the parking stakes and stuff like that. And I think, “Man, I wish my mom was here.” I cry during that little bit of time, wipe the tears away, and have a smile back on my face for the people that are about to come to PurpleStride.

Paula: PurpleStride Raleigh-Durham this year was super successful. I saw that you hit 101% of your fundraising goal, which is amazing. What are some of the factors that you think led to that kind of success?

Tripp: Loyalty, to be honest with you. We have amazing people, from our DJ to the MC to our vendors, who tell us, “You give us the date for next year and we'll be there.” Our MC now unfortunately has someone close to him that died last year or two years ago from pancreatic cancer. He's now like, “I was all in before. But after losing the family friend, I'm definitely all in now.” People here in Raleigh-Durham have been extremely loyal to us: “Hey, we're coming back, and what can we do to help for next year?” Loyalty is just the biggest thing that I think that helps us.

Paula: What are some things that you'd like to accomplish during your term on the VAC?

Tripp: Hopefully just giving people feedback. We've been successful and luckily, we have hit our goal the last five, six years, I believe. Hopefully share our ideas of what we do here with other cities and other affiliates. As we always say at PanCAN, [PurpleStride] is going to be different everywhere. We have ours on a college campus. Some may have theirs at a zoo, or at a park, or right on the city streets. [I want to share] with people that I've met before I got on the VAC and ask them, “Hey, I have this city, and this is where they normally have their event. What are the best practices?” Just sharing ideas.

Paula: You're right - there's so much knowledge in our volunteers, so how do we best utilize that so you can learn from each other?

Tripp: Right.

Paula: It sounds like you've really ramped up your participation with PanCAN since you started. You helped out on event day at first, and then as PurpleStride Chair, and now you're also on the VAC. What advice would you give to volunteers who are also thinking about increasing their involvement?

Tripp: You're not alone, don't be scared, go ahead and jump feet first in the water, and don't just try to dip your toe in there. You’re going to have help. With the [new] South Carolina Affiliate, I got invited to their first meeting. What I told them is, “You are not alone. You have people in 58, 59 other cities who are your friends and you're going to have a purple family that you don't know yet. They care about you, and you don't know you have them yet. You're going to be able to reach out at any time to anyone. If someone doesn't know the answer, they're going to be able to point you in the right direction to try to get the answer for you.”

Tell people that I said they're not going to be alone, whether you're a Mission Chair, PurpleStride [Chair], Affiliate [Chair], or whatever the case may be. There are going to be people there that are going to help you out because we're in this so we get the [five-year survival rate] percentage higher than 11%. You really do get that family feel; everybody just wants everyone to be successful.

Paula: Awesome. I love the idea that you have a purple family, you just haven't met them yet – but they’re there!

Paula: Planning for PurpleStride 2023, of course, has already begun. As PurpleStride Chair, what are your priorities in this stage of the process?


Tripp: We have our venue. Now the next thing is sponsors; trying to go out and get sponsors out there so they help us reach our goal again and try to find new sponsors. Something else is new volunteers. Reaching out to the high schools and the colleges. In the past, we've had sororities and fraternities to help us out with the route.

But…sponsors, sponsors, sponsors are kind of our biggest focus.

Paula: Yeah, yeah!

Paula: One last question. What advice would you give to your fellow PurpleStride Chairs, especially new folks coming on this year?


Tripp: One [piece of] advice I give is to let your people work. Have trust in them that they're going to do what they're going to do. We need to be hands-on, but if you have people that are going to do it, let them do what they do. They're going to follow through and [you need to] be there and support: “Hey, I'm here if you need me” and “What can I help you do?”

Another thing that I would add is that Volunteer Central is your friend and a good resource to find out about different roles. Two other things to use would be the PurpleStride Timeline and the PurpleStride Action Plan.
 

9c74949b58675f2836c14910e5c66135-huge-tr
 

Posted by Paula Mukherjee on Aug 11, 2022 6:00 AM CDT