Pancreatic cancer isn’t very common, but it’s one of the most lethal cancers when it begins to grow deep in the abdomen.

The disease caused the death of D'Angelo , the Grammy-winning R&B musician who passed away recently at 51.

Other high-profile patients who died include “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek and actor Patrick Swayze .

The cancer is hard to find because doctors can’t see or feel the pancreas, a 6-inch-long gland that lies between the stomach and the spine, and is hidden by the small intestine, liver and other organs, the National Cancer Institute notes .

So there’s no lump to find or visual checks to make.

“It's not a place you can feel with any sort of physical examination,” Dr. Michael Wallace, a gastroenterologist and interventional endoscopist at the Mayo Clinic in

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