I wish we'd pushed sooner, says wife of cancer patient

When Craig Sullivan started getting stomach pain, he put it down to a stressful house move and having a lot on at work.

At 44, Craig's stomach issues were initially put down to irritable bowel syndrome.

However, his condition worsened and, after tests and scans, the father of two was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer a year later.

His wife Natalie, from Ruddington in Nottinghamshire, says: "I wish we'd pushed for more help sooner."

Craig's friends and family have now come together to raise money for private treatment, which they hope will prolong his life.

Under current guidelines, he cannot have those treatments on the NHS because of the type of cancer he has.

"I don't even think I could put into words how devastating it's been," Natalie adds.

"You have that thing when you wake up in the morning and for a second you don't think about it. And then you do.

"People don't realise it's not just about potentially losing someone you love, it's that your whole life changes in a second."

Natalie took Craig to A&E at Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham after he woke up with yellow eyes and skin.

Initially, he was told the yellowing could have been caused by blockages or gallstones, but a later scan showed he had a mass on his pancreas.

Craig, now 45, was given six rounds of chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumour in his pancreas so it could be removed.

"The tumour had shrunk by half by April, but [the doctors] still weren't comfortable operating," Natalie recalls. "So they wanted to do more chemo."

However, Craig became unwell due to an infection, and his chemotherapy was cancelled.

A subsequent scan showed the cancer had spread and further tumours had been found in his liver.

Pancreatic cancer can be found anywhere in the pancreas, and may not have any symptoms, according to the NHS.

It most commonly affects people who are over the age of 65, those who have medical conditions like chronic pancreatitis and those with a family history of pancreatic cancer.

Symptoms can include:

• the whites of your eyes or your skin turn yellow

• itchy skin, darker pee and paler poo than usual

• loss of appetite or losing weight

• feeling tired or having no energy

• a high temperature, or feeling hot, cold or shivery

On average, 136 people aged under 45 are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the UK annually, according to figures by Pancreatic Cancer UK. This age group make up 1.1% of cases.

Something that has frustrated Craig and Natalie is the lack of options for treatment.

They said they were determined to find an alternative treatment using the money raised by their friends and family.

Natalie said she would also like to see more research into the disease.

According to Pancreatic Cancer UK, about 3% of all money invested into cancer research in the UK goes towards looking at pancreatic cancer.

Senior policy advisor for the charity, Charlotte Lynch, added: "Pancreatic cancer is really hard to diagnose, which is why people get diagnosed quite late because symptoms are often vague.

"The treatments for the disease are also really harsh and have severe side effects so sometimes people are just too unwell to have them."

She said they were regularly lobbying the government for more funding to go into research.

A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson said: "We know there is more to do to ensure that people are getting the care they deserve.

"That's why we are piloting a targeted approach that searches patient records to find people most at risk of pancreatic cancer, which could give more people a fighting chance and spare the heartbreak of countless families."

NHS England said decisions on which treatments were available on the NHS were made by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE).

In a statement, a spokesman said decisions on which treatments to offer patients were made based on "the benefits and risks" of using them in individual cases.

Friends and family of Craig and Natalie are hoping to raise £50,000 to pay for further private treatment in either Oxford or Germany.

It would not cure him, but could give him extra time with his sons, 14-year-old Alfie and 10-year-old Quinn.

Natalie said they had been "overwhelmed by the support" ahead of a charity football event on Saturday at the Pelican Colts football club, in Lenton Lane, where Craig used to be a coach.

One of the organisers, Laura Burton, said: "We're hoping it will be a great family day out, and it will raise vital funds for Craig.

"The community has really come together to support Craig and Natalie and their boys.

"Ruddington is not a big place but there's a huge community gathering for them, and it's heartwarming to see the efforts people have gone to."

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