Pancreatic Cancer Awareness
Month
This November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.
Possibly the only time you may have heard about this disease will have been when
Patrick Swayze succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2009. The disease is often a
silent killer and that is why more people need to know the signs and symptoms.
Well it must be pretty rare, I hear you say, but in fact
pancreatic cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the UK. So now that you
know that then you would imagine that of the funds raised for cancer research
every year quite a bit must be going to researching the condition. Well in fact, 1% of research funding is
spent on pancreatic cancer. Those
supporting education into this disease feel that this is a shockingly low
amount and with its status as the fifth most common cancer in the UK, I think
we would all tend to agree with them.
So what kinds of signs and symptoms are there? Well over
half of patients already have jaundice when they first visit their doctor –if
you are suffering from jaundice you will have yellow skin and yellowness in
the area around the pupils of the eyes.
Another symptom may be the fact that you are driven mad with a lot of
itching or even a fever, you might even feel pain in your stomach and notice
that despite not changing your diet, you are losing weight.
Not many of us lay-people will have heard of
neuroendocrine tumours. That is because they are an uncommon group of tumours
that produce different symptoms. But it is not all bad news. Some progress is starting to be made in the
form of a drug called 'Sutent' that has been approved for the treatment of
these neuroendocrine tumours.
Maybe you know someone who has been affected by pancreatic
cancer or maybe you have been unfortunate enough to have the disease yourself.
Maybe you just want to make a difference and need to know how you can help to
improve survival and get more information on pancreatic cancer.
The pancreatic cancer awareness people have stories of
inspiration for us too. In 2010 Paige Bishop lost her dad when doctors failed
to pick up on the signs of his condition and did not make the diagnosis in time
for treatment to be of any use. So with
the help of those she loved, she organised a golf event and around 130 people attended. There was a
raffle, donated gifts and over three thousand pounds was raised for Pancreatic
Cancer Action.
And if you have been inspired by what Paige has done or if
you have someone in your life that you would like to go the extra mile for,
then why not organise your own Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month event? It could
be sports-related or be about almost anything that you can think of! It's up to
you, your imagination and what you want to do. Maybe you could get a group of
friends or workmates together and run notions past each other until you find a
great wining idea.
There is also the chance to fundraise online. All the links are on the website.
Please
note that all information and content on UK Health Radio and this blog are
provided by the authors, producers and companies themselves and is only
intended as additional information to your general knowledge. It is not intended as a substitute for professional
medical advice or treatment. Please do not delay or disregard any medical
advice received due to information gathered on UK Health Radio.
UK
Health Radio – the health radio station for the United Kingdom, Europe and
beyond at www.ukhealthradio.com –
is kindly sponsored by www.1-stop-health-shop.com
Amanda Thomas
UK Health Radio
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