My Story is about Bjarne Schelde

This event took place from 14 Nov 2014 to 14 Mar 2015

The Discovery

Bjarne’s Pancreatic Cancer was discovered when he was experiencing extreme abdominal pain. The Doctor’s initially suspected a bowel blockage and were treating that. While in the hospital the Doctor’s were trying everything to get the bowels to work again and after a CT scan they could see a tumor on the Pancreas. The Doctor’s believe the tumor on the Pancreas may have invaded some of the nerves telling the bowel to work. After all of this, he had surgery to address the bowel issue and that took a month to recover from. All the while, Bjarne had numerous biopsies, each with inconclusive results. We were also informed in early December that the tumor had invaded a major artery and surgery was not viable. Finally, after nearly two months and three biopsies it was confirmed – Pancreatic Cancer.

This is My Story

Sadly, on March 14, 2015, Bjarne Schelde passed away in Hillerà¸d, Denmark. He was surrounded by me and his family. Bjarne was 66 years old and died three months before he planned on retiring.

What helped me the most through this experience, was all the great information on PANCAN’s Website. There was so much valuable information that helped me to understand what was going on and what to expect next. I was able to ask smarter questions to Bjarne’s Doctors and I even recommended that they visit PANCAN’s Website. Without all the valuable information from PANCAN, I’m not really sure what I would have done. PANCAN was a life saver for me and I can’t thank you all enough for helping me through this experience. I’m forever in debt to PANCAN and that is why I will always support all the great work PANCAN is doing to fight Pancreatic Cancer.

The Impact of Time

I was lucky enough to be able to bring Bjarne home for Christmas. We enjoyed a very quiet Christmas celebration and I did everything in my power to make sure he was eating and getting enough nutrition to gain weight and strength. These eight days, I will forever cherish!

On January 1, 2015, Bjarne and I were enjoying a very quiet day watching EPL soccer on TV. Out of nowhere, Bjarne started vomiting blood and he was rushed back to the hospital. We were told that the tumor was invading a major artery and that there may not be much that they could do to stop the bleeding. After multiple incidents of bleeding, the Doctor’s told me to gather all the family members and were expecting him to pass. I stayed in the hospital with him for two nights and on the third day Bjarne woke up asking for breakfast. All of the Doctor’s were amazed and could not believe what they were seeing.

After this, I had two great months with Bjarne and we did everything we could to try and fight his Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis. I’m forever grateful for this extra time because it gave us all time to just surround Bjarne with so much love and support. Bjarne knew he was surrounded by love!