More from the New York Times series on cancer this past weekend:

In another article in the feature, Gordon Hendrickson talks about his battle with pancreatic cancer ... and his health insurance company.

Upon his diagnosis, Hendrickson received relatively good news, that his pancreatic cancer was operable and that such an operation would increase his survival greatly. However, he also received bad news. His insurance company said they would only pay for the surgery, the highly-complex Whipple procedure, if he went to one of five surgeons in his hometown.

Hendrickson wanted to have the surgery performed at M.D. Anderson in Houston, as the surgeons there had much more experience with Whipples than those in his hometown.

After bringing his evidence to a state review board, namely that the five surgeons that his plan had recommended had collectively only performed a total of five Whipples in their whole careers, Hendrickson won the case and his healthcare plan covered his surgery in Houston.

Hendrickson's story is yet another example of how patients must be their own best advocates in our challenging healthcare system.

Diehl Martin of Guntersville, Alabama, has been battling pancreatic cancer since 2004 and shares his experience on his blog, DiehlMartin.com . Martin was diagnosed in 2004 and underwent a Whipple procedure that year, followed by radiation and chemotherapy treatments. At the end of 2006, he experienced a turnaround as his energy level returned, his pain was eliminated and his tumor marker level was back to normal. Recently, his cancer has rebounded and he shares his experience with increasingly aggressive chemotherapy.

In addition to his daily experiences with pancreatic cancer, Martin offers medical information from a patient's perspective, including details regarding the side effects of painkillers, what a typical chemotherapy infusion looks like and what is involved in a Whipple procedure.

Martin infuses his blog with a strong sense of his faith and cautions that his story is not the typical pancreatic cancer story, as his cancer was caught very early. Martin's generosity of spirit pours out through his words and his ability to see the silver lining in every cloud is inspirational.

A new study sheds new hopeful light on pancreatic cancer survival -- for patients 65 and older.

The study, conducted at Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, found patients in this age group who survive pancreatic cancer for at least five years have a better chance than patients not yet 65 at surviving another five years.

Researchers studied the records of 890 patients with pancreatic cancer who underwent the standard pancreaticoduodenectomy, or Whipple procedure. And lead researcher Charles Yeo reports that surgery can in fact extend and improve the quality of life for this population.

"Not too long ago, few lived for five years after diagnosis," he said. "Today, that not true. There's been a paradigm shift in the way we treat and think about this disease."

Additional details on this promising study can be found in the journal Surgery.