Claire

We called her Nai Nai, which is like the Chinese version of grandma. She was such a strong, amazing, kind and all-round inspirational person. Throughout her cancer journey, she showed so much strength. Even if I just think about her for a moment, it’ll hopefully see me through to the end.

Running for Nai Nai

As soon as I saw that Pancreatic Cancer UK was Charity of the Year, applying to run the marathon was a no brainer. It is the only charity I could run for that would get me through it. This is the one that is closest to my – and my family’s – heart. The marathon is a great opportunity to get hype around a disease which has been overlooked for so long.

I’ve done a few half marathons at university. That’s the longest distance I’ve run. Thinking about how I felt at those finish lines, I cannot imagine doubling that! I’m not putting pressure on myself to finish at a certain time, I don’t mind if it takes me ages. If I do encounter any problems, if I even have a fragment of the strength my grandma showed following her diagnosis, I think I’ll be okay.

GP in training

I’m currently a junior doctor and by the start of 2026, I should be a fully qualified GP. When my grandma was diagnosed, I was a medical student, and we hadn’t covered pancreatic cancer. I wasn’t aware of all the symptoms, and I hadn’t encountered the disease in real life.

Nai Nai had developed diabetes a few years before her diagnosis, but she was getting older, so it was put down to that. However, nothing in her life had changed – she was still active, spending her time gardening, one of her favourite pastimes, and she kept up with housework by herself. The diabetes may or may not have been related to the pancreatic cancer, but looking back, it felt like the first sign. Then, during the summer of 2016, she began to experience bloating. She mentioned it to her GP who thankfully took it seriously and investigated further. In December, she had a scan as part of the further investigations which confirmed she had terminal pancreatic cancer.

I was on my first holiday without my family when she was diagnosed

On Christmas Day, we had a typical family call, saying Merry Christmas and catching up on what everyone was doing. I was in Thailand; my first holiday without family. My grandma wasn’t on the call, but my parents began to speak about her and broke the news to my siblings and me. Nai Nai had pancreatic cancer. I felt a lot of emotions in that moment. I remember feeling upset with myself that I went away that Christmas. I had convinced my parents to let me go and explore the world, as you do when you’re in your early 20s. It really hit me in that moment that I wouldn’t get another Christmas with her.

The other thing that went through my mind, when they said pancreatic cancer, it clicked with me. Why didn’t I think of that? Maybe I could have said something to my parents, maybe she would have been diagnosed earlier. Hindsight can be cruel. I was in my second year of six years of university, so it was very early in my medical learning, but I think there was pressure from my family to be the medical one. I certainly put pressure on myself. I wish I could have helped sooner or had her diagnosed sooner.

We must change the story for those diagnosed in the future

It would be amazing if we can make a diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer a reality. We need to get people diagnosed earlier, so that they have more options for treatment. With my grandma we were just crossing our fingers, hoping that she may be eligible for surgery but, there was no chance – the cancer was caught too late. Being able to diagnose people sooner could save so many lives.

It is such a tough cancer. She lost weight, energy and became unable to do anything. It’s not nice to see someone you love go through it.

We are really lucky to have the NHS and we are so great at dealing with so many different diseases but this one, it’s still a blind spot. It’s time to change things. The marathon was something I had to do, for my grandma and for everyone affected by this devastating disease.