The daughters of a Lincolnshire couple who tragically died from pancreatic cancer are urging people to learn the warning signs of the silent but deadly disease.
Susan Smith, a former nurse, died in February 2012, at just 55-years-old after suffering from a range of gastrointestinal issues before she was finally diagnosed.
Her husband, Richard, 70, outlived her for 11-years before he succumbed to the same tragic fate after a three month battle with the cancer.
Now their daughters, Rebekah, 44, and Laura, 36, say people must learn what ‘different symptoms to look out for when it comes to the deadliest common cancer.’
Pancreatic cancer is typically diagnosed at a late stage when treatment is less successful, because it causes few symptoms early on.
As a result, just one in four patients live more than a year after their diagnosis.
These statistics became all too real for the ‘close-knit family,’ after Susan was diagnosed with the disease in October 2011.
‘Not only did mum die of it, then dad did too. You couldn’t write it,’ Rebekah said.
Richard and Susan were both unexpectedly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer within just a decade of one another
‘They weren’t smokers, and they weren’t drinkers. They went to a fitness club and look after themselves. There were no obvious risk factors,’ her sister Laura added.
‘They were both health-conscious people, but yet both then developed pancreatic cancer.’
Looking back, Laura, who works as a nurse, remembers noticing a change in her mother in the summer of 2011.
Susan was complaining of extreme thirst, and would swallow repetitively, as if she had something stuck in the back of her throat, Laura said.
She was also suffering from acid reflux and felt generally unwell. Her GP prescribed her antacids to relieve indigestion and heartburn.
But her health rapidly deteriorated. Within weeks the whites of her eyes and her skin began to turn yellow – known as jaundice – a tell-tale warning sign of the disease.
Initially she put her symptoms down to irritable bowel syndrome as she was also experiencing nausea, abdominal pain and changes to her bowel habits.
‘Because mum was a nurse, I think she knew she had something nasty going on,’ Laura said. ‘I remember her looking in the mirror and thinking it, and she was right.’
Laura (pictured left) and Rebekah (pictured right) now want to use their story to raise better awareness for the silent symptoms of the disease
Richard and Susan led a healthy lifestyle, exercising regularly and rarely drinking alcohol
Susan finally underwent an ultrasound in October 2011 and was formally diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
‘They basically said that she had a tumour on the head of her pancreas and it had spread to the bile ducts, which had become blocked, causing her skin to turn yellow,’ she added.
She underwent surgery to unblock her bile ducts, which are situated around the pancreas, in an attempt to treat the jaundice.
She then had a couple of rounds of chemotherapy to try and kill the cancer. But because she was too unwell to have her pancreas removed, the cancer took hold.
After yet another surgery to have fluid drained from her abdomen, which was causing uncomfortable bloating and swelling, Susan struggled to keep anything down, including her pain medication.
She died just weeks later.
‘It was quite a sudden death,’ he daughter recalls. ‘She had been sitting in bed and talking to us and been quiet. And then, unfortunately, she had a big seizure and passed away quite unexpectedly.
‘Dad had actually gone to have a look around a hospice for her. Then he returned and mum was no longer here. That must have been very difficult,’ she added.
But they both died just months after being diagnosed with the cancer, like half of those diagnosed with the devastating disease
Rebekah ran the Great North run for Pancreatic Cancer UK
The sisters look back with fond memories of their ‘loving close knit family’
After her death, the sisters took on the responsibility of caring for their maternal grandmother, who had dementia,
Just a year after she died in February 2022, their father started complaining of back pain on his right side.
Mr Smith went to a physiotherapist, believing it was a bone, joint or muscle issue. But, after this symptoms didn’t improve, he was pointed towards his GP.
In July 2021, further blood tests and scans confirmed that he was suffering from liver damage, which was later discovered to be as result of the cancer.
‘So dad was then faced was going through everything that his wife did and knowing what might lie ahead,’ Laura said.
Mr Smith’s treatment looked slightly different from his wife’s as his doctors tried him on pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT).
This involves taking digestive enzymes in tablet form, to assist with the digestion of fat, carbohydrates and protein which pancreatic cancer sufferers can struggle with.
But before he could start chemotherapy, he was involved in a car accident which doctors initially believed to have been caused by a stroke.
However, scans revealed the cancer had actually spread to his brain.
After the accident, Rebekah said: ‘His personality wasn’t the same. He seemed to lose his mobility. Hw was really weak too; he couldn’t even put his pin in his phone.’
Sadly, Mr Smith deteriorated a lot quicker than his wife, with very few treatment options available to him.
As the cancer spread through his brain he became ‘aggressive and challenging,’ to the point the girls no longer recognised their own father.
He died just three months later, in October 2023.
The orphaned sisters resolved to help other people notice the warning signs before it becomes too late, sharing their story with Pancreatic Cancer UK.
The charity announced last year it will be funding a world-first clinical trial study that could lead to pancreatic cancer being diagnosed with a breath test.
‘Hopefully, that’ll be successful,’ Laura said. ‘it’s a quicker route to diagnosis than surgery so that’s got to be positive. It’s hard and really tough that neither of our parents survived.’
The pancreas is a pear-shaped gland tucked behind the stomach, responsible for producing hormones that aid digestion and convert sugar into energy.
Because of its location and relatively small size, doctors often can’t feel a pancreatic tumour during a physical exam, another barrier to early treatment.
And whilst getting older is one of the biggest risk factors for the silent killer, with almost half of cases diagnosed in over 75s, experts have warned it’s on the rise in younger age groups – especially women.