Has anybody ever known somebody that beat this disease? It seems to be nearly always fatal in a short period.
Sure. It can be beaten. But the odds are against you. It is a particularly nasty and difficult one.
The Pancreas tolerates cancer fairly well. Thus, by the time the symptoms manifest, it is too late to take effective measures. This is why they are primarily focused on finding a means of early detection. If you catch this early enough, it is more survivable.
the mayo clinic website has some stories of a few people who beat the disease and have returned to full health. my mom was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor of the pancreas a bit over a month ago. her doctor said it was almost a miracle that they found it so early because it almost never causes any symptoms. mom was fortunate because her tumor was squashing the bile duct and caused jaundice. it also caused her to become diabetic. those two together rang alarm bells and enabled them to remove her tumor while it was still contained, and the cancer contained to the tumor. she had surgery two weeks ago and they found clear borders which means the edges of all tissue removed were cancer free. she will have to undergo chemo and radiation to be safe. the doctor did say that the current crop of chemo drugs do not seem to affect the cancer cells in a pancreas very well. it just is not very effective alone, radiation is the same way. so they almost always do a combo of surgery, chemo, and radiation when the situation is caught early enough. however, of the 20,000+/-cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosed every year, only about 500 are caught early enough to even do surgery. it usually does not cause symptoms until stage 4 which is always deadly.