Last weekend, it was joyful to see the annual display of endurance, spirit and unity on the streets of the UK’s capital that is the London Marathon.
The London Marathon also embodies kindness and charitability. The headline charity this year was Pancreatic Cancer UK. Their ‘Shoes of Hope’ art installation along the marathon course by Tower Bridge made a striking impact: 797 pairs of trainers, each representing an individual lost to pancreatic cancer, this amount being the number of deaths from the disease in the UK each month. Alan Rickman, Aretha Franklin, Luciano Pavarotti, Patrick Swayze and Steve Jobs have all suffered this fate.
The pancreas is a gland that sits behind your stomach at the back of your abdomen. It has two main functions: making enzymes to aid food digestion and making insulin to control blood sugar levels.
Pancreatic cancer develops when cells in the pancreas grow out of control forming a tumour. By far the most common type is pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, where the cancer originates from the ducts of the pancreas. Rarer types (neuroendocrine cancers) develop from hormone-producing cells. The causes are unknown, but risk factors include smoking, obesity, and having a family history of the disease. The risk also increases with age, with nearly half of those diagnosed in the UK being over 75.
The problem with pancreatic cancer is that often it does not cause any obvious symptoms until it’s reached quite an advanced stage, making early diagnosis challenging. It has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers, with only 7% of people diagnosed surviving beyond five years and many dying within a few months of their diagnosis.
So, what should we look out for? Common symptoms include:
Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes). One of the more visible signs, it happens when the tumour blocks the bile duct causing bile to build up in the body.
Unexplained weight loss. In pancreatic cancer, it may be because the body isn’t digesting food properly.
Pain. This may feel like a persistent dull ache that starts in the upper tummy and spreads around to the back, worse after eating or when lying down.
Digestive changes. These include indigestion and changes in the stool (stools often become pale, greasy and floaty).
Appetite loss and feeling full quickly. Tumours can press on the stomach, making eating uncomfortable.
Fatigue. Extreme tiredness can occur with any cancer due to malnutrition and the effects of the rapidly dividing cancer cells draining the body of energy.
These symptoms can of course be caused by many less serious conditions. However, if they are new, persistent, and unusual for you, it is important that you see a doctor.
Thanks to funding from charities like Pancreatic Cancer UK, much research is being done to find a simple test that would be accurate at picking up early diagnosis. The ‘Shoes of Hope’ gives a stark reminder of the impact of this cancer and the pressing need for further developments.
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