ALAN
RICKMAN’S life was cut short by pancreatic cancer, the
“silent killer” whose sufferers’ survival rates have not improved since the
Sixties.
But campaigners hope the shock news of the Harry Potter actor’s death aged 69
this month will help raise awareness and funding for the disease.
Pancreatic cancer claims 23 lives every day in the UK and it has the fifth
highest death rate of any cancer,
Yet it gets one per cent of cancer funding, which the charity Pancreatic
Cancer Action claims is causing delays in diagnosis and treatment.
Last week, a survey found only three per cent of GPs felt confident about
identifying symptoms of the disease.
Other big names to have succumbed to it in recent years include Apple boss
Steve Jobs, opera star Luciano Pavarotti and actor Patrick Swayze.
Ali Stunt is one of the rare survivors and is chief executive of the charity.
She says there is still only a four per cent chance of surviving more than
five years with the disease — the same rate as in the Sixties.
In that time, breast cancer has seen five-year survival rates go from 54 per
cent to above 95 per cent.
Ali says: “I hope we can find a silver lining from Alan Rickman’s death by
saving thousands of lives in his memory.
“It’s likely that when he got the news doctors would have told him the
terrible prognosis.
“He would have been told his chances of survival were minimal with extremely
limited options for treating the disease.”
READ MORE:
Tributes
pour in as Alan Rickman dies of pancreatic cancer
Alan
Rickman suffered stroke which led to cancer diagnosis
David
Bowie had 6 heart attacks before he died from pancreatic cancer
It is believed Alan died just a few months after his diagnosis.
Of the £503million spent by the National Cancer Research Institute partners in
2013, only £5million was spent on pancreatic cancer, or slightly less than
one per cent.
Breast cancer got £40million, bowel cancer had £25million, leukaemia
£34million and prostate cancer £22million.
Dr Steve Pereira, professor of Hepatology and Gastroenterology at University
College London and a member of the Pancreatic Cancer UK Medical Advisory
Board, says: “With chemotherapy having little effect, surgery’s the only
hope of a ‘cure’.
“We need a way of diagnosing the disease earlier to allow more people to have
surgery. We also need new treatments for those not eligible for surgery.
“The majority of patients tend to present themselves at an advanced stage of
the disease, so for 80 per cent it’s too late for even a hope of a cure.”
‘Losing my husband left a hole in my heart’
CATH Armstrong, 46, a council worker from Walthamstow, East London, lost
her partner Jonathan Barlow, 56, an actor, to pancreatic cancer two years
ago. She says:
“In autumn 2011 Jonathan went to his GP with stomach pain, but was told it was
acid reflux and to take antacids. He had lost two friends to pancreatic
cancer and asked if it could be that, but was assured it wasn’t.
“In October 2012 the pains came back and he was referred to hospital for
tests. We were worried, but he didn’t have any other symptoms of pancreatic
cancer, and he didn’t look unwell.
“Results from a CT scan came back in December saying he had advanced
pancreatic cancer and could have just six months to live.
“The massive stage 4 tumour had spread to his liver. There was no hope. I
hadn’t gone with him to get the results as I assumed it wouldn’t be anything
serious.
“Unable to talk on the phone, Jonathan text me the news when I was at
work. It left me numb and in shock for days.
“While we knew his cancer was terminal, we didn’t dwell on his death –
instead, while having chemotherapy, Jonathan made a point of us going on
holidays so we could enjoy what time we had left together.
Text PCAN44 £5 to 70070 to donate £5 to Pancreatic Cancer Action.
“In autumn 2013 his health went downhill fast. He had severe pain in his
shoulder and he was constipated. CT scans showed the cancer had spread
again.
“Along with his son Jake, we celebrated Jonathan’s 56th birthday at home
on January 3, 2014, after which he became so ill and was constantly
confused. He was admitted to a local hospice where he spent his final few
days.
“Losing Jonathan ripped a hole in my heart and there’s not a day goes by
that I don’t miss him. Since then I’ve made it my mission to promote the
work done by Pancreatic Cancer UK. I now sit on the patient-carer advisory
board for the charity.
“Jonathan was in the 20 per cent of those diagnosed with pancreatic
cancer who survive more than a year, a year when we needed so much support.
“It is sad that Alan Rickman died from pancreatic cancer, but we could
find a positive from that. Maybe more people will know how few folk survive
this and how we need funding to find a cure.”
‘I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy’
FOUR-TIME pancreatic cancer sufferer Carl Denning works part-time for O2
and runs his own street-food business. The 41-year-old, from Leeds, says:
“In September 2013 I had a sharp pain under my rib cage and was told it was
just indigestion.
“A few weeks later I started getting jaundice and my GP referred me for
tests. I had an aggressive tumour on my pancreas.
“The surgeon said they had to operate on me to remove the tumour. I asked
if I was going to survive but didn’t get an answer. That silence was
deafening.
“Thankfully, the ten-hour op on October 3, 2013, removed it. But there
was an 80 per cent of the cancer coming back. I had six months of chemo,
praying every day I’d get through it.
“Then, in March 2014, after blood tests, I was rushed to hospital for an
op using bursts of electricity to destroy the tumour cells. Again, I needed
chemo. That autumn, the cancer returned. I had the same op again, followed
by more chemo.
“With my body feeling so broken, the cancer came back the autumn after
and I’ve been having chemo to reduce the size of the tumour before I go to
hospital in two weeks for my fourth op.
“I’m glad I’ve survived this long but wouldn’t wish what I’ve been
through on my worst enemy.”
‘I’m lucky, I know, but I’m also still afraid’
RETIRED secretary Karen Stead, 56, of Wakefield, West Yorks, is among the
lucky four per cent to survive for five years after treatment for pancreatic
cancer. She says:
“In December 2009 I started feeling nauseous but was told by my GP it was
excess stomach acid, nothing to worry about.
“A few weeks later I had backache and diarrhoea and was exhausted, so I
went back to my GP. They thought it was something I’d eaten.
“I struggled on and the symptoms faded. In June 2010 I woke with
excruciating back and abdominal pain but again my GP diagnosed indigestion.
“It was only the following month, when I noticed my eyes and skin were
yellow and I had terrible itching, that my GP realised something was very
wrong. I was assured it wasn’t cancer but a liver problem.
“I was referred for CT scans, but didn’t want to wait several weeks. So,
using my husband Michael’s private medical insurance, two days later I had a
whole range of tests at St James’ Hospital in Leeds.
“By then I was black and blue all over from scratching.
“My consultant told me there was actually nothing wrong with my liver –
but they’d found a tumour in my pancreatic bile duct.
“The only option was a Whipple procedure, a risky nine-hour op to remove
your gall bladder, general bile duct and part of your pancreas, small bowel
and stomach.
“I made it through that procedure and the good news was the tumour had
only been Grade 1 and didn’t seem to have spread.
“But while I thought the worst was over, the consultant didn’t pull any
punches when he said pancreatic cancer survivors do ‘well’ to survive one
year, and ‘very well’ to survive two. I was devastated, knowing my time with
Michael and our three kids was coming to an end.
“The six-month chemotherapy course I was put on had to be stopped after
just 12 days because it was affecting my arteries – I then thought I didn’t
have any chance of survival at all.
“But against all the odds, I’m still here some five years and four months
after being diagnosed.
“Most of the other pancreatic cancer sufferers I’ve met in the past few
years have died and I only know one other woman who has made it past the
five-year mark. But I know it can come back at any time so I’m still so
afraid.”
Disease by numbers
— 8,800 Brits are diagnosed every year.
— It kills around 8,600 every year.
— Fewer than 20 per cent of those diagnosed are suitable for surgery.
— Only one in 100 of those diagnosed will still be alive ten years later.
— Most of those diagnosed are told they have less than a year to live.
— It is the ninth most common cancer in women – 13th in men.
— Rates have increased in women by ten per cent since the Seventies – in
men it has decreased by 13 per cent.
— One in 71 people will be diagnosed during their lifetime.
— Almost half of all new cases occur in people aged 75 and over.
The signs
— Low mood or depression
— Indigestion
— Diabetes
— Pale and smelly stools
— Jaundice
— Mid-back pain
— Upper abdominal pain
— Pain when eating
— Fatigue
— Unexplained weight loss
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