Sisters issue warning after losing both healthy parents to ‘silent killer’ cancer
Two sisters have issued a stark warning after their seemingly healthy parents both died from a 'silent killer' form of cancer.
Rebekah Stubbs and Laura Smith went through two tragedies after losing their mother and father to pancreatic cancer in 2012 and 2023 respectively.
They are now issuing a warning to others about the dangers of the deadly disease, which is only projected to become more prevalent in society, with Cancer Research UK suggesting that rates are set to increase by 5 per cent between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, with around 16,000 new cases each year by 2038-2040.
Speaking to PA Real Life, Rebekah and Laura shared their memories with their parents Susan and Richard, speaking candidly how they both lost their battles with the relatively rare form of cancer.
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Rebekah said: “Not only did mum die of it, but then dad did too. You couldn’t write it.”
Laura added: “They weren’t smokers and they weren’t drinkers. They probably had a bit of whiskey every so often, but they went to a fitness club and looked after themselves.
“They didn’t have risk factors that you’d think ‘that could be why’. They were both health-conscious people, but yet both then developed pancreatic cancer.”
They first noticed symptoms in their mother in the summer of 2011, as she 'kept swallowing like she’d got something stuck in the back of her throat', but several trips to the doctor didn't produce any meaningful results.
However, her symptoms only got worse, as she suddenly found herself 'going to the loo' a lot, and she was formally diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2011 following an ultrasound.
Laura said: “Because mum was a nurse, I remember her looking in the mirror and thinking, ‘I look and I feel as if I’ve got something nasty going on’, (and) she was right.
“They basically said that she’d got a tumour on the head of her pancreas and it had spread to the bile ducts, which was causing her to be yellow because they were blocked."
Susan attempted a few rounds of chemotherapy but these only made her more 'poorly and unwell' and by Christmas she couldn't keep any food down, and she later died at the age of just 55 after suffering a seizure in bed at home.
Laura said: “It was quite a sudden death. She had been sitting in bed and talking to us and been quite content. 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 mum. Then he returned and mum was no longer here. That must have been very difficult to understand what just happened,” she added.
However, the family would suffer even further in 2023 when Richard started experiencing intense back pain which was later revealed to be pancreatic cancer, while he also suffered what was thought to be a stroke while driving his van, which led to a crash.
Richard's cancer sadly spread even quicker and metastasised to his brain which left him unable to do basic tasks.
After this incident, Rebekah said: “His personality wasn’t even the same. He seemed to lose his mobility. He was really weak too. He couldn’t even put his Pin in his mobile phone.”
She said it also meant he became 'aggressive and challenging', remarking that 'he’d never been like that before'.
Just three months on from his diagnosis, Richard passed away at the age of 70.
On why it is important for her to share their parents’ stories, Rebekah explained: “Misdiagnoses, awareness, quicker pathways (to diagnosis), and knowing what different symptoms to look out for.”
According to the NHS, the main symptoms of pancreatic cancer are yellowing of the skin or eyes, itchy skin, change in toilet habits, loss of appetite, losing weight without trying to, fatigue, a high temperature, nausea and indigestion.
Laura concluded: "In terms of our circumstances, I think it’s certainly unusual to have both parents diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. They’re not related. They’ve got different genetics.
“It’s hard and really tough that neither one of them survived.”
James Moorhouse