Meet our ambassador Sabrina Gidda
Chef and author, Sabrina Gidda is an ambassador for our charity and we are so grateful for all she does to support our work and raise awareness in memory of her mother, Sukey.
Chef and author Sabrina Gidda’s culinary talent has delivered acclaim for several top London restaurants, seen her judge MasterChef and compete in the Great British Menu. Sabrina’s debut cookbook is titled Modern South Asian Kitchen.
Losing mum just five months after diagnosis
When Sabrina’s mum, Sukey, was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in May 2021, Sabrina took leave from her career to help care for her. Told that her mum had just three months to live, Sabrina moved in with her family and used her knowledge of nutrition and cooking to help her as she navigated a treatment plan of very strong chemotherapy. Sukey was given PERT [Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy] tablets, without which she could not digest her food or retain the strength to tolerate chemotherapy. Whilst this treatment helped extend Sukey’s life, giving her five precious months with her family, it also took its toll and sadly she passed away aged 64 in October 2021.
Sukey’s diagnosis was a real shock to Sabrina and her family. She was fit, healthy and was in fact a sports teacher through her career. Sukey hadn’t displayed many of the typical symptoms. Her only symptom was sporadic violent sickness and fatigue which began at the beginning of 2021.
Like Sukey, 80% of people with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed too late to save their lives. Although Sabrina and her family spent months researching other treatments for pancreatic cancer in the hope that something or someone may be able to help Sukey, she was ineligible for surgery, which is currently the only potentially curative treatment for pancreatic cancer.
Sabrina is working with us to ensure other families don’t have to go through through what she and her family did. Together with her family and friends an amazing total of more than £10,500 has already been raised in Sukey’s memory, and Sabrina has no plans to stop.
Having recruited eight fellow top chefs to her ‘PCUK Cycle Squad,’ Sabrina and her team will be saddling up for RideLondon 2023. The 100-mile ride through London and neighbouring Essex will be the furthest she’s ever ridden, yet she’s determined to complete the challenge and help make earlier diagnosis, better treatment, support, and care a reality for future patients.
Like us, Sabrina believes taking on pancreatic cancer should be a priority for governments across the UK. She joined us in Parliament to amplify our No Time to Wait campaign, and is passionate about improving access to PERT so that everyone with pancreatic cancer is prescribed these vital tablets at the point of diagnosis.
Sabrina also featured in our Double Donations campaign video alongside researchers, case studies and other celebrities. This video has helped us raise an incredible amount of money to go towards putting a test in the hands of GPs to help them detect pancreatic cancer at an early stage, potentially saving thousands of lives each year.
Sabrina is working on creating a special annual dinner – inviting Chef’s from across the country to collaborate with her, to raise vital funds for the charity. Her aim is to use this event to spread knowledge of pancreatic cancer and to raise vital funds.