Karen Franklin

November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month. In January this year our beautiful mum was diagnosed with stage 1 pancreatic cancer. After the initial shock of her diagnosis, we quickly learned that this cancer was not one to mess with. Mum became septic in April following just one round of chemotherapy. She spent 5 weeks in hospital and came home hoping that the next step would be to get her strong enough for more treatment. Unfortunately, the cancer was not in an ideal place and caused yet more complications. Mum had not had any further treatment at all because she simply wasn’t strong enough. In September mum was admitted to hospital and the odds were stacked against her. The tumour had caused infection in her bile duct and a liver abscess. It had also grown to cause her duodenum to become restricted. I know that the consultants had done everything in their power to help mum but they had exhausted all of their options. The decision was made to put mum on end of life care pathway. Mum continued to be strong and fight up until her very last breath. We are immensely proud of her bravery.

We have decided as a family to set up a memorial fundraiser in her memory. This is because there is currently no diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer and the symptoms are so non-specific. We’re honouring our wonderful mum in the hope that one day we can make pancreatic cancer survivable.