A Lanarkshire woman has joined Pancreatic Cancer UK in calling on the public to help bring more than hope to people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, in memory of her mum.
Claire Crothers is sharing her story ahead of World Pancreatic Cancer Day and during Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month to help change the story for people affected by the deadliest common cancer.
Claire’s mum Mary Brown, a volunteer and teacher whose selflessness was legendary in Newarthill, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier this year. She died aged 67, just two months after diagnosis, having never received any treatment.
More than half of people with pancreatic cancer die within three months of diagnosis. Currently, no screening or early detection tests exist to help doctors diagnose the disease and its vague symptoms – such as back pain, unexpected weight loss and indigestion – are also common to many less serious conditions.
Tragically, like Mary, 80 per cent of people are not diagnosed until after the disease has spread.
This Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, charity Pancreatic Cancer UK has launched its More than Hope campaign, urging the public to stand alongside them and Claire to demand more for people diagnosed with the disease.
Just three per cent of the UK’s total cancer research budget is spent on pancreatic cancer. Decades of underfunding has stifled progress in delivering earlier diagnosis and more effective treatments.
In January 2024, Mary began to feel exhausted and in the months that followed, she lost weight unexpectedly, had pale stools, dark urine and became jaundice. She went to her GP who referred her for an urgent scan, but they were told it would take six weeks.
Claire, 45, said: “I had started to Google the symptoms at this point, and I realised quite quickly that it could be pancreatic cancer.
“Bearing in mind my suspicions, and that all guidance suggests if you have jaundice, you should be seen right away, I thought this was a ridiculous time for us to wait.”
Mary paid to have a scan done privately on March 28. A week later, the results came back and showed that Mary had pancreatic cancer which had spread to her liver.
A consultant said they’d refer Mary as an urgent case, and they would hear about the next steps within the week. No one contacted them, leaving Claire to spend hours chasing up the right people before she eventually got her mum an appointment on April 16, a month after she first went to the doctors.
At this appointment, Claire was told there would be a multi-disciplinary team meeting about her mum within a week, but this didn’t happen until May 1.
Claire said: “The day after her appointment, I phoned mum in the morning, but she didn’t answer. We went round to hers and found her passed out.
“She admitted she didn’t want to worry us so hadn’t reached out. It took us three hours to get her in the car, to get her to the hospital.
“She never came back home. Mum had basically every single symptom, yet the cancer was still picked up too late.”
The major cause of late diagnosis is pancreatic cancer’s vague symptoms – such as back pain, indigestion and unexpected weight-loss – because these are also common to many less serious health conditions.
With no early detection tools to help them, it is very difficult for GPs to identify who should be urgently referred for scans to confirm or rule out the disease.
By the time Mary was in hospital, she was already very frail and had lost more than a stone. The hospital staff were not forthcoming with information, leaving Claire desperate for answers on what the next steps were for her mum.
Claire said: “At this stage, the hospital hadn’t even scanned her as we had gone private, they hadn’t had any multidisciplinary meetings as promised, they hadn’t given her a terminal diagnosis as they hadn’t seen her, they’d failed her.
“I ended up chasing the MDT meeting and I am so glad I did, as otherwise mum would never have ended up in a hospice.”
Mary was much happier at the hospice and staff tried to get her well enough to go home but unfortunately, they never managed this.
She spent the remaining six weeks of her life at the hospice, receiving an award from the Scottish Government for her volunteering work during her stay.
The last two weeks, Claire and her sister, Fiona never left Mary’s side. She died on June 30, aged 67, just two months after diagnosis.
Claire said: “If you have a suspected cancer diagnosis, you’re supposed to have a dedicated cancer nurse, and you are meant to get your scan within a few weeks. My mum had none of this. Throughout my mum’s care, it was as if she had been written off. They kept saying to us well it won’t change her prognosis so what was the point, but we didn’t care.
“We wanted more time with her, but we weren’t even given this option. We weren’t given a chance
“Survival rates haven’t improved in over 50 years. For 50 years people have been written off like my mum.
“It’s embarrassing that we have one of the worst survival rates for pancreatic cancer in the world. Something needs to be done, so no one suffers like my mum suffered.”
Diana Jupp, CEO of Pancreatic Cancer UK, said: “For far too long, people who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer have had little more than hope to hold onto. They deserve more. We are calling on the public to help us make more noise so we can change the story for those affected and see more people survive long and well following a diagnosis.
“Survival rates have barely changed since the 1970s. Please, stand with us when we say enough is enough. Help us bring more research breakthroughs, more support through our Support Line, and more action as we campaign for those with no voice.
“Let’s make survival a reality for more people diagnosed with this devastating disease.”
Pancreatic Cancer UK recommends that anyone experiencing one or more of the most common symptoms of pancreatic cancer – back pain, indigestion, tummy pain and weight-loss – for more than four weeks should contact their GP. Anyone with jaundice (yellowing of the eyes or skin) should immediately go to A&E.
Join Claire and demand more for people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer by adding your name here: www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk.
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