Four per cent. That’s your chances of still being around five years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Out of all the cancers out there pancreatic cancer has one of the worst survival rates. It’s known as the “silent cancer” because there can often be no symptoms and when they do come it can be too late. Last month legendary Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, 65, made headlines when he announced he had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. But there is hope, those who have been touched by the disease are fighting back and working to raise awareness

 

 

WATCHING his mother die from pancreatic cancer on the morning of his 50th birthday left Paul Armstrong with the determination to beat her killer.

Since her death in 2011, Paul has been trying to find out as much about pancreatic cancer as he can.

He is now in the process of setting up a pancreatic cancer support group and in June he will embark on a challenge of climbing as many of the highest peaks in Scotland as he can in five days.

Married Paul, from Essex, hopes his outdoor adventure will help to raise thousands of pounds for medical research to improve diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.

He explained “My mum, Pat, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June 2010, when she was 73.

“Like 90 per cent of sufferers, her diagnosis came too late to be operable. What makes it worse is that she had been going to the doctor for a long time but nothing was ever picked up.

“About four months before she was diagnosed she was offered a CT scan but it ended up being cancelled. If she’d had that scan the chances are the cancer would have been detected and maybe she’d have had more of a fighting chance at beating it. We will never know.

“As it was, she was given three months to live, but she battled on for another ten special months before slipping away on the morning of my 50th birthday.”

Where as treatment and detection for some cancers like breast and colon cancer have improved dramatically the rates of survival for pancreatic cancer have barely got any better since the early 1970s.

Research suggests that those who drink and smoke are more at risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

But Paul said: “My mum never drank alcohol and she smoked very briefly when she was young, but then gave it up. She was a vegetarian and lived a really healthy lifestyle.

“There are suggestions it could be hereditary but again there seems to be nothing concrete there.

“I remember the doctor at the hospital coming out with something cryptic which I thought was a bit strange at the time. He asked my mum if she had children and she said: ‘Yes, three boys’ and he replied: ‘That’s OK then.’ “My mum’s father died from pancreatic cancer and some of the people I’ve got to know over the past few years have had he same experience.

“It would seem to fit the trend that it’s passed from father to daughter but again, this isn’t set in stone.

“Obviously I wonder if I will get it but it’s not even like there’s a test out there to find out. What’s most alarming about pancreatic cancer is that it has such a gloomy outlook. We need to improve people’s chances of survival so that it’s not the death sentence is practically is now.”

Paul will camp out in the Scottish mountains for five days and will aim to scale as many munros – peaks over 3,000ft tall – as he can. He said: “One of my mum’s great passions was walking in the Scottish hills, so in May last year I headed north with my dad to climb one of her favourite mountains and scatter her ashes. Going back there seems like the best way to honour her memory.”

To sponsor Paul’s munro climb visit www.mm120.org.

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