2 weeks Ago By HuffPost UK
The Crown star Olivia Williams has given a stark revelation following her 7 year battle with pancreatic cancer , saying that if she had been treated for the right condition sooner, “then one operation possibly could have cleared the whole thing and I could describe myself as cancer-free, which I cannot now ever be.” Speaking with The Times, the actress revealed that she spent four years seeing ten different doctors in three different countries trying to get to the bottom of symptoms she was experiencing, such as fatigue and chronic diarrhoea. She was originally diagnosed with lupus before being told it was likely that she was menopausal before discovering that actually, she had a 7cm by 4cm tumour in her pancreas, which a biopsy showed was cancerous.
Olivia is now supporting Pancreatic Cancer UK Explaining how difficult the cancer is to diagnose, she said: “The average time from diagnosis to death is three months – and that figure has not improved in 50 years. “It takes an average person with my cancer [a VIPoma cancer within the pancreas] 11 visits to the GP to be diagnosed. For me it was probably about 21 times.
” Olivia is supporting Pancreatic Cancer UK – the London Marathon’s charity of the year – in raising awareness in a plea for donations to fund earlier detection of pancreatic cancer. “Because it’s so quick and so shocking, people tend to liken losing someone to this cancer to losing them in a car crash. “What could change that is early detection with a test that could be as simple as breathing into a bag at your GP.
We’re incredibly close, we just need to get it over the line.” On their website, Pancreatic Cancer UK say : “80% of people with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed too late. Too late for treatment, too late to survive.
“Developing new tools to improve the detection of pancreatic cancer would mean that more people are diagnosed earlier, giving them the chance to have life-saving treatment, and saving thousands of lives every year.” “Be vigilant” “It’s too late for me, and for all these people who are running in the marathon who’ve lost a parent or a friend, who could have been saved by a pancreatectomy [removal of the pancreas] if the cancer had been found before it spread,” Olivia said. She urges that until early detection is available, we should follow the advice of her surgeon and be vigilant about any changes in faeces for three weeks or more.
Pancreatic Cancer UK also advise looking for the following symptoms : If you think you may have pancreatic cancer, speak to your GP. If you need support for yourself or a loved one with the condition, visit the Pancreatic Cancer UK website to find community or personal support. Related.
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