Anne Sandy

Mum had never looked her age. She was a very pretty lady and always took pride in her appearance. In her younger days she made a lot of her own clothes and was always very smartly dressed. Mum had a very strong sense of duty and "doing the right thing". There was nothing she wouldn't do for her family, who loved her dearly. She looked after her two children, husband and father and always kept her house and garden immaculate. She was a fiercely independent lady who lived alone for 27 years after Dad died. Mum found it really hard when this cruel disease forced her, little by little, to give up some of that independence, especially tending her beautiful garden. Mum was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June 2021 at the age of 85, when she suddenly became extremely jaundiced. A stent was fitted and Mum's health improved for a time. As her tumour was borderline operable, she had chemotherapy which did succeed in shrinking the tumour and making an operation possible. However, at 86, Mum decided against it, as it would have been too much for her.

It was heart-breaking to watch my lovely Mum succumbing to the disease, but she kept her sense of humour and dignity to the end. There was nothing I could do but try to make things as easy as possible for her. Throughout her illness, I received the most wonderful telephone support from the Macmillan nurses at the hospital and from the nurses at Pancreatic Cancer UK. Their support and advice was invaluable to me and helped me when no-one else could. I took part in Challenge 24 in May; I walked, ran, cycled and swam to raise funds to find ways to improve and speed up diagnosis and develop faster and better treatment for pancreatic cancer – and call for more investment in research. I was shocked to read that every day in the UK, 24 people die from pancreatic cancer and that whilst survival rates have improved enormously for most cancers, sadly, for pancreatic cancer, this is not the case. Late diagnosis means that people with pancreatic cancer don’t get the chance to have life saving treatment and live longer. For this reason, I would like to invite donations in memory of Mum, to transform the lives of everyone affected by pancreatic cancer.