Pat Smith had planned to spend Sunday morning suspended over Sussex County, skdiving in honor of her late husband and his battle with pancreatic cancer. But Mother Nature had other plans.
Gray skies and the threat of rain forced Smith, 55, to cancel the morning jump with Skydive Sussex at the Sussex Airport. Instead, the Lake Hopatcong resident and 17 others she recruited to raise funds and participate in "Jump for a Cure" will try again at 11 a.m., Sept. 12.
"We're disappointed, but it just gives us more time to raise money," an optimistic Smith said Sunday. "We've originally set a goal of $2,500 and we've already passed that. We have $2,750 so far."
The donations, which the mother of three is gathering online through the Lustgarten Foundation, will go toward research to find a cure for the common cancer.
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth-leading cause of deaths of adults in the United States, and the majority of all patients are older than 55, according to the foundation's Web site. The disease can also occur in younger people, especially those with family histories of pancreatic cancer, the foundation said.
Smith's husband, Robert, was diagnosed with the disease in March 2008 and the prognosis was grim. The cancer had metastasized to his liver, and doctors gave the 54 year-old between three and four months.
"There's no early detection, no test for it," Smith said. "They thought he had liver cancer. They found it in his liver and GI tract."
Robert Smith died on June 24, and the family learned of the Lustgarten Foundation through donations sent in his name to the non-profit.
Founded in memory of Marc Lustgarten, a Cablevision executive who died of pancreatic cancer, the Bethpage, N.Y.-based foundation offers patients and families of loved ones with the cancer to create various fundraising opportunities.
Smith, who said she had wanted to skydive since she was 18, created a personal page on Lustgarten's Web site and began planning the charity event with her 27 year-old son, Bob, who had jumped at Skydive Sussex before.
The jump will be done in honor of her husband, but Smith said the event was tinged with irony. Robert Smith had shared a love of biking with his wife, but the two didn't see eye to eye on skydiving.
While Smith found the idea exciting, Robert thought it was dangerous and preferred the feel of solid ground under his Harley Davidson, his wife said.
'I just thought, I might as well do it now," Smith said. "If I'm going to jump, I'll try to make a difference in what I do. ... I just thought the jump will be emotional cleansing for me."
News of the planned event quickly leaked out among Smith's co-workers at the Allegra School in Cedar Knolls and her friends. Before she knew what was happening, she and son Bob Smith were joined by 16 others who wanted to jump for the cause.
"It was just a little thing and I'm still stunned how it just took off," Smith said. "I had so many people just come up to me at work, saying they lost a close family member to pancreatic cancer and I realized how prevalent it really was."
Skydive Sussex will make a donation to Smith for each person who jumps on Sept. 12. With a month to go after Sunday's setback, Smith is hopeful the group can reach a new fundraising goal.
"I'd love to see us (raise) $5,000," she said. "I don't know if we will or not, but it'll be great if we can."