Pressure grows to spot deadliest common cancer

Isla presents petition and an open letter

- Richard Elias

A WOMAN who lost her brother to pancreatic cancer four weeks after he was diagnosed will today urge MSPs to increase action to improve early detection of the disease.

Isla Gear will present a 200,000-name petition along with an open letter containing almost 60,000 signatures when she visits Holyrood.

It is her first stop on a UK-wide tour which will end with a visit to Downing Street next week.

Her campaign is in memory of her brother, Tam Barker, from Fife, who was just 47 when he died.

Isla started her petition just hours before her sibling’s death.

It calls for better early detection in Scotland and received 200,000 signatures, 15,000 from Scotland.

At the time, it was the largest petition related to the disease in the UK.

Now, Isla has joined Pancreatic Cancer UK’s, “Unite. Diagnose. Save Lives” campaign to reach all four nations. Accompanying her on her tour is Tam’s son Max Barker, 12.

Pancreatic cancer is the deadliest common cancer. Around 10,700 people are diagnosed with the disease in the UK each year and an average of 897 are in Scotland.

More than half die within three months of diagnosis.

Currently, there are no screening programmes or early detection tests to help doctors diagnose pancreatic cancer and its vague symptoms.

These include back pain, unexpected weight loss and indigestion.