Kerry Fordham, 70, was fit and healthy before she began to feel unwell in February.
She started to suffer from fatigue but “did everything right” and went straight to her doctor, where she had a blood test that showed “nothing.”
Further symptoms, like indigestion and back pain, began to rear their heads and a return visit to the doctor came – with further tests that showed no abnormalities.
The next month, her symptoms were declared to be the cause of high cholesterol, but they only continued.
By May, Kerry had lost weight and, after more emergency tests, she began to be sick every time she ate and found tasks like walking increasingly difficult.
On June 8, Kerry and her daughter Braidey Lewis, 44, found out that she had a mass on her pancreas.
A taxing six-week hospital stay followed for Kerry.
In this time, she developed severe jaundice and had stents fitted – all while not being well enough to eat. By this point, they had also found lesions in her stomach and abdominal lining.
Just weeks after her diagnosis, on August 15, Kerry passed away.
Following her passing, her daughter Braidey has taken it upon herself to raise awareness of this disease that is often overlooked.
She said: “Mum was fit and healthy – she was a pensioner, but she still worked and was great and fit and healthy. People used to think she was in her 50s.
“It’s just sickening because my mum could have been saved.
“Because she was older, she was dismissed. She wasn’t listened to.”
According to Cancer Research UK, there are around 28 pancreatic cancer deaths in the UK every day – a statistic that Braidey is looking to improve.
“Things need to change,” she said. “We just need to stop this happening to families in the future.
“My mum was my best friend. We had a holiday to Spain booked this week. Instead, now we have her funeral.”
Braidey and her family are organising a series of fundraisers for Pancreatic Cancer UK, aiming to raise as much money and awareness as possible to help those with this disease that has the lowest survival of all common cancers (according to Pancreatic Cancer UK).
Fundraising events begin with a walk by Braidey throughout September, in which she will be walking 84km through the month in honour of the 84 people who die from the disease every three days.
This will be followed by a vintage market, complete with cakes and coffee, on November 7 to commemorate Kerry’s love of all things vintage and stylish.
