15 years ago the mother of Jonathan Harper, a Partner in the Spencer Stuart London office, was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. Aged 52, 6 weeks later she was dead. Pancreatic cancer is a disease in which cancerous cells form in the tissues of the pancreas which produces digestive juices and hormones that regulate blood sugar. Pancreatic cancer has the worst survival rates of any of the 21 most common cancers, with fewer than 4% of patients surviving for five years or longer following diagnosis. The disease is set to overtake breast cancer as the 4th most common cancer killer by 2030.
Pancreatic cancer is tough to diagnose, tough to treat and tough to survive.
The global picture
1. Pancreatic cancer is the twelfth most common cancer, with 338,000 cases diagnosed in 2012.
2. The highest incidence of pancreatic cancer worldwide is in Europe and North America.
Pancreatic cancer in Europe
1. Pancreatic cancer is already the fourth biggest cancer killer in Europe as a whole. The number of people dying from the disease has risen continuously for the past 40 years.
Median survival after diagnosis is 4.5 months, and fewer than 7% of people survive for 5 years after diagnosis.
Jonathan is a member of the Development Board of Pancreatic Cancer UK. They campaign and fundraise for a game changing annual UK/EMEA pancreatic cancer research funding pot of £25 million by 2022. This will include a significant investment of £10 million from Pancreatic Cancer UK over the next five years. The charity receives no money from the Government, so through fundraising it is committed to doubling the five-year survival rates and believes that this level of research will begin to transform the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
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