If you are visiting this page you'll most likely know that Ruth passed away peacefully on April 11th just seventeen months after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  

You'll also know what an amazing, warm, kind, loving, inspiring,  happy woman she was.

You might know that she was passionate about fundraising for Pancreatic Cancer UK during her illness and was instrumental in launching a series of 'Big Purple Quizzes' and a theatre show which we nervously organised last December in the hope she would still be there to enjoy it.  She was and the amount of money raised led to us being invited to Barts Cancer Institute in London to meet a medical research team who are working on a ground breaking immunotherapy  project involving CAR-T cells which was funded by the charity. 

You probably won't know that two weeks before she died, when in some discomfort, she kept an appointment with a wonderfully dedicated research doctor and gave blood.  Cancer cells were extracted from Ruth's blood and those cells are actively being used in research which in the future will save lives.  

Ruth also gained great support and information from the forums on the Pancreatic Cancer UK website.  She was an inspirational figure on the forums herself and typical to the rest of her life found comfort and satisfaction in helping others.

Thank you for donating, read on for Ruth's own words.

Ruth's husband Tony

x

When I was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer I googled it and and wished I hadn't. There were no reassuring words whatsoever and the only things I read were terrifying:  "Instant death sentence".  "Only 3% survive 5 years".  "The worst of the most common cancers with the lowest survival". "More people will die of pancreatic cancer than breast cancer this year" despite 10,000 being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and 50,0000 plus being diagnosed with breast cancer. 

The overwhelming message was that this is a deadly and aggressive cancer where it is often diagnosed when the cancer is well advanced due to few presenting symptoms in the early stages. Due to the location of the pancreas (where it lies close to an important network of veins and arteries) by the time it's diagnosed the tumour has usually invaded these important blood vessels making it inoperable. The nature of this cancer also means that it tends to metastasise quickly so people are often stage IV at diagnosis. Only 8% of people will be eligible for the potentially curative whipple surgery following diagnosis and even with this reoccurrence rates are high. 

On one national website the first thing I read on the front page was that treatment and outcomes for this dreadful disease had not improved in 40 years. The 5 year survival rate is the same as it was 40 years ago at 3% where massive improvements in 5 and 10 year survival rates have been made with many other cancers. Although these statistics remain abysmal there has been limited recognition, research and funding into this disease. It is in desperate need of more funding and key issues which need addressing are early detection and diagnosis and effective targeted treatments. Considering pancreatic cancer is one of the more common cancers I was appalled to read that only 1% of cancer research funding goes towards pancreatic cancer. Sadly this cancer has been seriously neglected and over looked. There needs to be more money invested in early diagnostic tests and targeted and effective treatments in order to significantly improve survival rates. 

The charity Pancreatic Cancer UK have been incredibly helpful. You can read my story on their website here   http://www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/information-and-support/real-life-stories/patient-stories/inoperable-pancreatic-cancer/ruth/.  

Unfortunately my 2 month follow up scan in August showed some small lesions in my liver. These were confirmed as metastasis. This was not the news we wanted so soon after the surgery to remove the tumour. All I wanted was a break from the relentlessness of it all, just a bit of time to recover from the major surgery and time off chemotherapy. This was not meant to be. My chemotherapy regime was changed and I started Gemcap. I have found this much easier to tolerate. We had also researched alternative treatments and read many stories about a Professor who works in a private London Hospital. He specialises in non invasive surgery using the nanoknife and radio frequency ablations. He performs these procedures on the liver, lungs and pancreas. Many people are having treatment with him for inoperable tumours. The treatments use high levels of heat or electricity to burn and destroy the cancerous tumours. I have had this treatment twice and the aim is to keep the disease under control.

I want to raise as much money as possible for Pancreatic Cancer UK as this money will be directed into research of this disease and helping to find better treatments.

November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month and with the help of my husband we have written a specific quiz which is advertised on the fundraising page on Pancreatic Cancer UK site. http://www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/get-involved/pcam-2016/the-big-purple-quiz/  Anyone can run this quiz if they wish. It's all been done for you. All you have to do is visit the Pancreatic Cancer UK site and show an interest, they will send you everything you need. We have already done a couple of quizzes over the past week and we have more planned. 

We are also putting on a music show called "December 3rd (Oh what a night)" at our local Art Theatre in New Mills and sharing the proceeds with The Christie Charity. Tickets are selling fast and available here https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/newmillsarttheatre

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.