“Scott only lived nine weeks post-diagnosis – it was so quick and sudden, leaving us all in a state of shock and bewilderment.”
Jodie Long shares her brother's story with a plea for more research to stop lives being lost to this awful disease.
My brother Scott was just 44 when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. None of us had any idea that pancreatic cancer was so deadly and final. He had been complaining of a bad back for the last six months, but his job was physical, and we all put it down to a pulled muscle. He had gone to his GP on several occasions but was just prescribed painkillers and told not to worry about it. He even had blood samples taken, and they came back clear of cancer, so at that point, he had ruled it out. However, the pain persisted, and he suddenly started losing weight.
I hadn’t seen him for a while as this all coincided with COVID, and I often wonder if I’d been able to see him, would I have spotted something sooner? On his fourth visit to the doctors, they agreed to an MRI; it was then that they confirmed pancreatic cancer. Another long wait until the consultants met and they confirmed our worst fears – stage four metastatic. It was incurable.
Scott only lived nine weeks post-diagnosis – it was so quick and sudden, leaving us all in a state of shock and bewilderment. He was just 45. He married his childhood sweetheart three days before he died. If only this awful disease were more treatable, he may still be here with his new wife.
We urgently need more research into pancreatic cancer. 45 is too young to die from a disease that can be treatable.
