D'Angelo's death puts focus on pancreatic cancer: What to know
Singer D'Angelo died on Tuesday at age 51 after a battle with cancer, his family announced this week.
"After a prolonged and courageous battle with cancer, we are heartbroken to announce that Michael D'Angelo Archer, known to his fans around the world as D'Angelo, has been called home, departing this life today, October 14th, 2025," his family said in a statement Tuesday.
The R&B sensation, who gained widespread fame for hit songs like "Brown Sugar," "Lady," and "Untitled (How Does It Feel)," died from pancreatic cancer, a source close to the situation told ABC News.
The singer is one of several high profile individuals who have battled the disease in recent years.
Iconic "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2019 but continued to host the game show for the next 18 months. Trebek ultimately died from the disease at 80 years old in November 2020.
Actor Patrick Swayze of "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" fame died from the disease in 2009. His last television interview was in December 2008 with ABC News' Barbara Walters.
Swayze spoke candidly to Walters at that time about his prognosis and vowed to fight his cancer and "keep my heart and my soul and my spirit open to miracles."
Television personality Maria Menounos was diagnosed with the disease in 2023 after doctors found a mass on her pancreas, and a biopsy determined it to be a Stage 2 pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, a type of pancreatic cancer where the tumor forms in the islet cells of the pancreas, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Menounos said she underwent surgery to remove the mass on her pancreas, as well as her spleen, a fibroid and 17 lymph nodes. Because the cancer was caught early, Menounos did not require any chemotherapy and will not need additional treatment, according to People.
More recently, in 2021, "Sex and the City" star Willie Garson died of pancreatic cancer.
Other celebrities have been open about their families' experiences with the devastating disease: Mindy Kaling has been an outspoken advocate for the fight against pancreatic cancer after her mother died from the disease in 2012.
Influential figures outside of the world of entertainment have also been diagnosed with the disease, including the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died due to complications of metastatic pancreas cancer in September 2020 at age 87.
According to the NCI, an estimated 67,440 new cases of pancreatic cancer will be diagnosed in 2025, and the disease is expected to take 51,980 lives this year.
What to know about pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer is a type of cancer that develops from two types of cells in the pancreas, which is a 6-inch-long gland that sits between the stomach and spine, according to the NCI.
The more than 60,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer expected to be diagnosed in 2025 represent 3.3% of new cancer cases this year, while the more than 50,000 lives lost will represent over 8% of deaths due to cancer in 2025.
The disease is the 10th most common form of cancer, with cases rising about 0.9% per year since 2013, according to the American Cancer Society.
Treatment for the disease may involve surgery to remove part of the pancreas, small intestine, and bile duct radiation, or chemotherapy, depending on the stage and spread of the cancer, but the prognosis remains poor, with only about 13% of patients surviving five years after diagnosis.
Risk factors for the disease include smoking, obesity, diabetes, pancreatitis and a family history of the disease.
Because symptoms of the disease like jaundice, abdominal pain, fatigue, and weight loss only tend to appear after it spreads, catching the disease early presents a challenge.
While routine screening isn't recommended for most adults, those with close relatives who had pancreatic cancer may benefit from early MRI, CT, or ultrasound screening.
