Martine, late 50s, inoperable adenocarcinoma of the head of the pancreas

Martine, a married woman in her late fifties, is French from Paris and is married to an Englishman. They live in North London. She was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma tumour on the head of her pancreas in January 2003. The surgeon decided that he couldn’t remove the tumour as the blood vessels had grown all around it. She received chemotherapy (gemcitabine) almost straight away then a month later started six weeks of daily radiotherapy combined with gemcitabine. The treatment brought the markers right down and shrunk the tumour. She had no treatment for almost three years but continued with regular checks. In April 2006 the markers were going up and she started chemotherapy again. As the gemcitabine worked well the previous time, the oncologist decided to use it again and it has been effective in reducing her markers to a steady level. She will finish this course of chemo during February 2007.

The staff at the Royal Free in Pond Street, Hampstead which she attends continue to be very supportive. Martine finds it best to know only as much as she needs to know about the treatment and avoids knowing much more. She shuns newspaper articles which trot out the statistics about her cancer but she does know how fortunate she is. Her trips to Lisieux and Lourdes have been a great support to her. She leads a near normal life, though during chemo she works afternoons only.

( Contribution submitted by her husband with her approval. He knows some of her dilemmas as he has since developed prostate cancer. It is inoperable but he is doing well on Zoladex after radiotherapy eighteen months ago.)