My Story is about My mum, Geraldine McLaughlin

 

This event took place from 26 November 2016 to 19 February 2017

 

This is My Story

Prior to my mum getting diagnosed, I had never heard about the symptoms of pancreatic cancer, the causes, or ways you may be more susceptible to the disease. For this reason, I take every opportunity I can to spread awareness for pancreatic cancer. The more people who are aware of the symptoms might be able to help themselves or the people around them.

 

The Impact of Time

The value of time related to pancreatic cancer is enormous. Pancreatic cancer can progress in such small period of time, which is why it’s so important that people are aware of the symptoms to catch this disease as early as possible.

My outlook on time has changed significantly because of pancreatic cancer. My mum had the operation only a few weeks after being diagnosed; unfortunately, her operation was unsuccessful. We had hope, and we did everything we could to get her strong enough for chemotherapy. Weeks started to feel like months and my mum was only getting weaker. The doctors told us she was too weak for chemo, the only thing we could now do was make her as comfortable as possible, time was not on our side. I often wonder, “what might have happened if we had caught it earlier?”… An earlier detection may have completely changed how things panned out. Time is definitely a gift, and it is certainly a thing I shall never take for granted again.