Calls for urgent action to tackle pancreatic cancer

AN OPEN letter signed by more than 59,000 people has been delivered to the Welsh Government, calling for urgent action to make early detection of the deadliest common cancer a reality.

- STAFF REPORTER

Plaid Cymru's deputy Senedd leader Delyth Jewell MS, who lost her grandmother to pancreatic cancer in 2019, joined Pancreatic Cancer UK, along with Scottish campaigner Isla Gear, whose brother died just four weeks after diagnosis.

Pancreatic cancer is the deadliest common cancer. Tragically, like Isla’s 47-year-old brother Tam, more than half of people die within three months of diagnosis.

Currently, no early-detection tests exist to help doctors diagnose pancreatic cancer, and its vague symptoms - such as back pain, unexpected weight loss and indigestion - are also common to many less serious conditions.

As a result, 80% of people are not diagnosed until their cancer is at an advanced stage, meaning it is too late for them to have life-saving surgery.

Survival for pancreatic cancer has seen little improvement since the early 1970s, and by 2027 it is projected to overtake breast cancer to become the fourth-biggest cancer killer in the UK.

Ms Jewell said: "Pancreatic cancer still robs too many people of their loved ones.