Scunthorpe woman pushes for more awareness of pancreatic cancer awareness
Maggie Watts lost her husband, Kevin, to pancreatic cancer in 2009. Only 3% of sufferers survive the disease.
A Scunthorpe woman who lost her husband to pancreatic cancer is pushing for more public awareness of the disease.
It's one of the biggest cancer killers in North Lincolnshire.
Only 5% of sufferers survive the disease - according to latest figures.
While just a fifth of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer survive for 12 months following diagnosis.
Maggie Watt's husband, Kevin, died from pancreatic cancer in 2009.
She wants more people to be able to spot the signs of the disease as there's usually no symptoms in the early stages making it harder to diagnose.
Maggies' husband’s mum also died of pancreatic cancer in 1969 when she was just 27 years old and Maggie told Viking:
“What shocked me the most when my husband was diagnosed was that absolutely nothing had improved in survival rates since his mum died in 1969 even though 40 years has passed since she died. After my husband died I decided to see if I could create a bit of change and started a Government e-petition. After a year of hard work we managed to get 100,000 signatures needed for a debate.”
"One of Kevin's main symptoms was indigestion and I now know that is a potential symptom of pancreatic cancer but Kevin was being treated for an ulcer to start with and that's all we thought we were dealing with. Had I have known that this was a symptom, I would have pushed for further investigation which might have meant that he was diagnosed earlier and might have been one of the lucky few who survived.
"It was very difficult, your husband is seemingly fit, well and healthy and then he's diagnosed with cancer and not only that but it's terminal upon diagnosis and there is only palliative care available. Our hope was that he would survive longer than the maximum prognosis he'd been given of 6 to 18 months and he survived 20 months.
“I intend to focus my attention now on pushing for public awareness of the disease as early diagnosis is the only way to survive and sadly most people are diagnosed at a very late stage and prognosis is grim, often only weeks left to live.”
It's the fifth biggest cause of cancer death in North Lincolnshire and the local authority's also doing its part to raise awareness by turning the region purple.
Councillor Carl Sherwood, cabinet member for Health and Wellbeing, said:
“Pancreatic cancer is the fifth biggest cancer killer. We want to raise awareness of this type of cancer and the common symptoms. Knowing the symptoms can help with early diagnosis and give you a better chance of surviving. Don’t ignore the symptoms, visit your GP straightaway.
“This Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month people are being asked to ‘Turn it Purple’, whether that is by wearing purple clothing or lighting up a building purple. It will get people talking about pancreatic cancer and hopefully fight against the odds.”
The most common symptoms of pancreatic cancer are:
• Pain in the stomach or back • Jaundice • Unexpected weight loss • New onset diabetes not associated with weight gain