Emma’s important message to supporters
Read on below for a special message from Pancreatic Cancer UK supporter, Emma Madden, who sadly lost her mum to pancreatic cancer last Christmas.
Emma and Julie's story
Emma Madden and her mum, Julie, were trying to lose weight together at the end of 2019, with Julie winning slimmer of the week constantly. Thinking she was shedding weight due to her new job and exercise; they didn’t think much of this. Soon, Julie began complaining of backache and was forced to take time off work.
After some convincing from the family, Julie went to her GP – she was jaundiced at this point and was sent for scans. On 11th March 2020, Julie was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Gruelling chemotherapy shrank the tumour and gave Julie and her family some hope that she may be able to receive the only potentially curative treatment for pancreatic cancer, surgery.
Unfortunately, they soon found out the cancer had spread, meaning surgery was now impossible. Julie survived for two years following her diagnosis. She died just before Christmas, on 18th December 2022, aged 56.
Dear friend,
Let me start by saying how sorry I am if you too have lost someone to pancreatic cancer or if your loved one is currently facing this disease. I know how it feels. I lost my mum, who fought this terrible disease right to the end. She died just before Christmas, so this time of year is particularly hard.
Sadly, our time with her felt all too short. She had chemotherapy, which at first shrank the tumour and gave us hope that she’d be able to have surgery. But that treatment was incredibly gruelling – taking a huge toll on her body.
And ultimately, it didn’t work. The cancer spread and we lost her when she still had so much left to give. She was only 56.
That’s the thing about pancreatic cancer. It’s vicious and it’s fast. It doesn’t seem to react like lots of other cancers do to treatments.
And that’s why we have to help fund more research specifically into this cancer. We must find answers, so other families don’t have to go through what we have.
I hope you will join me in supporting Pancreatic Cancer UK with a kind donation to help fund research. They have a target of £60,000, which could fund seven month of research, which I think it just incredible. Every day, thanks to your support, they will be focusing on finding treatments that are better than what we have right now. Please, help by giving a kind donation to this fantastic charity.
Thank you so much.
Best wishes for the New Year.
Emma Madden
Supporter of Pancreatic Cancer UK
