A WOMAN from Bude is urging people to become more aware of the symptoms of pancreatic cancer, after her own experience with the disease.

According to a recent survey, the South West has a worryingly low knowledge of the pancreas and pancreatic cancer, with 55% knowing ‘almost nothing’ about the disease.

Moreover, 75% of residents were also unable to name a single symptom, which is substantially higher than other areas of the country including London.

What’s more, 71% of people surveyed in the region could not name any of the factors that increase the chances of getting pancreatic cancer and are therefore unaware of their own risk.

Pancreatic cancer affects almost 10,000 people a year and men and women are affected equally, with 40% of those diagnosed under the age of 69.

To make matters even more alarming, the South West had 952 cases of pancreatic cancer in 2016. Shockingly with the current five-year survival rate sitting at an abysmal 6.4%, it is likely that only 61 patients will survive beyond 2021.

Pancreatic cancer is the UK’s fifth biggest cancer killer, soon to overtake breast cancer as the fourth, and people are five times more likely to die of the disease than in a car accident.

The pancreas is an essential organ responsible for producing enzymes that help break down food and hormones which control blood sugar levels. Pancreatic cancer occurs when a tumour forms in the pancreas and currently, there is no early detection (screening) test for the disease.

Despite having a low survival rate, it is possible to survive pancreatic cancer. If a patient is diagnosed early and able to have surgery, five-year survival increases from less than 7% to around 30%.

Knowing the symptoms and risk factors associated with pancreatic cancer can help increase early diagnosis and save lives.

This Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, Pancreatic Cancer Action is urging the public to be more aware of the signs and symptoms and to see their GP if they are experiencing one or more of the symptoms, which include upper abdominal pain or discomfort, mid-back pain, persistent indigestion that doesn’t go away with medication, unexplained weight loss, pale and smelly stools, yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes which is known as jaundice — if you notice this symptom, you should seek urgent medical assistance.

This November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, where more than 80 organisations from 30 countries from around the globe come together to highlight one of the world’s deadliest cancers.

Penny Lown, from Bude, was working as a midwife and was fit and healthy when she was diagnosed with advanced, terminal cancer in 2013 when she was just 50 years old.

She started to feel extremely exhausted and noticed a vague pain on the left side of her chest, which made her go to her GP who signed her off with a viral infection.

Penny knew that this wasn’t right so she went back every week protesting as she was aware that her father had died of pancreatic cancer.

She said: “I wasn’t any better and that without a definite diagnosis I felt guilty taking the time off work. At the same time, I was however very relieved as I was just so tired.”

After further trips to the doctor, A&E and tests, Penny was told that she had lesions on her lungs and did in fact have pancreatic cancer.

She continued: “The date was April 17, 2013 — I will never forget it. I left that appointment in total shock but with the idea that since my dad had died 28 years ago, things must have moved on and I would be cured.

“Slowly and carefully, and with almost brutal honesty, my consultant told me that my tumour was too advanced and involved with the major hepatic vessels and due to what appeared to be secondaries in my lung the disease had become metastatic.

“I was told that I had months to live. He briefly touched on chemotherapy as a palliative option but he stressed that it would be gruelling and if my life was going to be measured in months, I may want to consider not having it.”

Penny was given chemotherapy to control the tumour but a CT scan showed that incredibly the chemotherapy was reducing the size of it.

She said: “After 12 cycles followed by 28 daily radiotherapy treatments, combined with oral chemotherapy, we had the amazing news that my tumour had become operable.

“We had had many emotional setbacks. My doctors were always puzzled by the lesions in my lung which disappeared during chemo and never returned. I will never know if they were secondaries. I had to wait an agonising month after my last radiotherapy to see if they would come back.

“On April 1, 2014, I had a distal pancreatectomy and had my spleen removed during six hours of surgery. The plan was for a Whipples, but I was luckier than that and the operation I had, although very major, was less aggressive.”

Penny is now a six-and-a-half-year survivor of pancreatic cancer. She will be running her first marathon on her 57th birthday in Athens.

She continued: “I am an insulin-dependant diabetic now and have no spleen which means my immunity is compromised, but I manage it well. I have learned to live in a new ‘normal’ as life will never be the same.

“My health is my wealth and very precious to me, physical and mental. I make it my priority in order to cope with physical and mental health issues that I am left with. I am grateful to the specialist team that saved my life, the support I had from PCA and for the future I have to look forward to.”

Penny saw an article in the Daily Mail from Pancreatic Cancer Action about their founder and survivor, Ali Stunt, and the symptoms that led to her diagnosis. This resonated with Penny and made her push for further tests.

She added: “Without seeing the article about Ali’s story and the symptoms she described, I am not sure I would be here, which leads me on to say how vital the work that Pancreatic Cancer Action undertake is. The awareness campaigns they run and medical education they give, is key to others having the same outcome as me.

“Despite the still terrible survival statistics, raising awareness is key for the improvement of them however small. People do survive and the opportunity for curative treatment is there if the disease can be caught early enough.”