Lancashire grandad urges others not to ignore early signs of pancreatic cancer

A Lancashire grandad is urging others to act at the first sign of trouble, having received the all-clear from pancreatic cancer less than a fortnight after visiting his doctor.

Malcolm Perry, 69, from Blackburn, visited his GP last November, complaining of a pain under his ribs. Within days, he was recovering from surgery for pancreatic cancer.

“If you've got a bit of pain, go and see your doctor,” said Malcolm. “If I’d left it much longer, I wouldn’t be here.”

The retired bus driver is sharing his story as part of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month in a bid to encourage people to not ignore any symptoms.

Pancreatic cancer has the worst survival rate, with one in four people diagnosed dying within a month. Its symptoms - tummy or back pain, feeling sick, diarrhoea, constipation, and jaundice – are similar to many other conditions, making early diagnosis difficult.

Malcolm’s GP initially suspected a problem with his gallbladder, but his blood results came back indicating that it was something else serious so the doctor sent him to be admitted to Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital right away.

“When they wanted to keep me in, I was surprised – at this point it never even crossed my mind that it could be cancer,” said Malcolm.

“Eventually they took me for a CT scan, and the doctor came back and said they could see something on my pancreas. When the surgeon came in and said it was cancer, you could have hit me with a sledgehammer, it wouldn't have affected me as much as that did. I had had no inkling at all.”

His cancer was diagnosed at Stage 2 – only 20 per cent of people have their pancreatic cancer detected at an early stage, meaning a much better chance of survival. Even so, without surgery, Malcolm was told that he would have roughly six months to live.

Instead he was offered a Whipple procedure, a complex surgery that removes the head of the pancreas, duodenum, gallbladder, and part of the bile duct. By chance, he was able to be seen that weekend. Following the 11-hour operation, and another scan, less than a week after being admitted he was being told that he had the all-clear.

The granddad-of-six continued: “The hardest part was the recovery. You are supposed to have chemotherapy after Whipples but I’d lost that much weight that it would have killed me. I’m just lucky that their scans showed they’d got it all.

“My wife, my four daughters, and my grandkids were all so supportive and all the doctors and nurses I saw were brilliant.

“My strength is still low and I know I won't be 100 per cent again. I still get out of breath. But I think a lot about what might have been – what might have happened if I didn’t go to the doctors.”

Around 10,500 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the UK each year. It is the 10th most common cancer in the UK.

Dr Neil Smith, primary care director at Lancashire and South Cumbria Cancer Alliance, said: “Pancreatic cancer often doesn’t cause obvious symptoms in the early stages. The symptoms may not be specific to pancreatic cancer and may come and go to begin with. This can make pancreatic cancer hard to diagnose.

"We have created a new innovative system to prompt GPs to consider pancreatic cancer if a patient presents with a range of symptoms including jaundice, unexplained weight loss, abdominal pain, loss of appetite and new onset diabetes. If your GP is concerned, they can organise urgent scans or referrals to specialists.

“Early detection is the key and always see a doctor for any symptoms that concern you rather than putting things off until they get worse.”