Martin Davies 12.05.59 - 07.08.21

In March 2017, our dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In true dad fashion, he had already worked this out. Following stomach pain throughout the summer of 2016 he was diagnosed with diabetes. He then read an article in The Times from Dr Mark Porter titled “Why diabetes could be an early warning sign of the deadliest cancer”.

After the initial shock of his diagnosis, we quickly learnt that the odds were unfortunately stacked against him. A couple of statistics that stuck with us are: “1 in 4 (25.4%) of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in England survive their disease for one year or more” and “7.3% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in England survive their disease for five years or more”.

Our dad fought against his cancer for 4 and a half years. He went through the Whipple procedure, two periods of chemotherapy, radiosurgery and most recently a clinical trial. Not to mention the hours spent at the hospital, getting scans, blood tests, and more. All through the pain, the side-effects and the psychological struggles, our dad continued to be the strong figure we have always known him to be, including the day of his passing.

What is giving us strength in this difficult time is that our dad lived life to the fullest and where possible did not let his diagnosis get in the way of his many walks (with his favourite daughter Zizou), bike rides, quiz nights, trips to London, GoSocial activities, trips to the Peaks/Lakes and much more. We realise how lucky we are to have had this extra time with him, what he always referred to as his ‘bonus days’.

Research into pancreatic cancer has been underfunded for decades – it only receives 3% of the UK cancer research budget. We would be incredibly grateful if you could make a donation today (however small) to help fight pancreatic cancer and to improve the awful statistics that people like our dad faced on the day of his diagnosis.

The last thing we would like to do is raise awareness of some of the early warning signs of pancreatic cancer (please read here https://www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/information/signs-and-symptoms-of-pancreatic-cancer/). Around 80% of pancreatic cancer patients are not diagnosed until the cancer is at an advanced stage. If you have any of these symptoms or know somebody who does, we urge you to go and see your GP.

Thank you to all our dad’s friends and family who supported him (and us) over the last few years.

Dad, we love and miss you so much.

Isabel, Stephanie and Jemima xxx