Kerrie Watson was training for marathons and moving into a new Naperville apartment with her two kids when stomach pains sent her to a doctor last summer.

A CT scan found a tumor on her pancreas. A biopsy in August 2025 confirmed stage 4 pancreatic cancer that had spread to her liver. Watson, then 46, was told she had about a year to live.

"I was completely devastated," Watson said, according to UChicago Medicine. "I thought: 'I have a 10- and 15-year-old. I can't leave them.'"

Watson is among the first UChicago Medicine patients to receive daraxonrasib, a new drug for advanced metastatic pancreatic cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the pill on Aug. 26. She started taking it in late July through a clinical trial.

The five-year survival rate for stage 4 pancreatic cancer is 3%, according to UChicago Medicine. Daraxonrasib changes the math. In a Phase III clinical trial called RASolute 302, patients taking the drug lived a median of 13.2 months, compared to 6.7 months for those on standard chemotherapy, according to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

How a Naperville mom found a clinical trial

Watson had completed the Napa Valley Marathon in March 2025. She was working full-time as a vice president of operations for a therapy company and raising her children after her 10-year marriage ended.

"I was in the best shape of my life," Watson said, according to UChicago Medicine. "I felt like I was Wonder Woman."

After her diagnosis, Watson researched clinical trials. Her first oncologist analyzed her tumor's genes using next-generation sequencing, a technology that identifies specific mutations so doctors can recommend targeted treatments. She was then referred to Ardaman Shergill, MD, a medical oncologist at the UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Shergill, an assistant professor of medicine who specializes in gastrointestinal cancers, led the RASolute 302 study at UChicago Medicine. Her research focuses on targeted therapies for the KRAS pathway, according to her UChicago Medicine profile. UChicago Medicine was the only hospital in Illinois to participate in the global trial, according to the health system.

What daraxonrasib does

Daraxonrasib is a KRAS inhibitor taken as three pills once a day. More than 90% of pancreatic tumors are driven by mutations in the KRAS gene, which acts as a growth switch stuck in the "on" position, according to The Conversation. The drug turns that switch off.

The drug's ability to extend lives is "unprecedented in pancreatic cancer," Shergill told the Chicago Tribune. Shergill and her UChicago Medicine colleagues have requested daraxonrasib for more than 30 patients, according to UChicago Medicine.

Watson's first clinical trial at UChicago Medicine combined standard chemotherapy with a drug targeting a different gene alteration. She responded well at first, Shergill said, but side effects forced changes and the treatment stopped working. Watson then joined the daraxonrasib trial.

She reported only some skin rashes, a common side effect. Watson continues raising her kids, working full-time and going dancing with friends, according to UChicago Medicine.

What's ahead

Shergill and her colleagues are working to launch an early-onset gastrointestinal cancers program at UChicago Medicine. Pancreatic cancer is rare in people under 50, but early-onset cases have been increasing.

The program will be part of the AbbVie Foundation Cancer Pavilion, a 575,000-square-foot facility on UChicago Medicine's main campus set to open in April 2027. It will be Illinois' first freestanding facility dedicated to cancer care and research, according to UChicago Medicine.

Naperville residents seeking a consultation with Shergill's team can call 855-403-0349. Shergill practices at the Hyde Park campus in Chicago.