November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month!

In Nicki’s memory we’re trying to make a difference for the future – to ensure that more people can successfully fight pancreatic cancer.  For Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month Nicki’s Smile has joined with a range of other charities across the world to make a worldwide statement about pancreatic cancer.  The current statistics[1] in the UK are shocking:

• UK pancreatic cancer survival rates are the worst of any major cancer and lag behind many other European countries as well as the US, Canada and Australia.

• 8000 people are diagnosed with the disease in the UK every year

• Pancreatic cancer receives less than 1% of overall research funding for cancer in the UK, whilst causing 5% of cancer deaths.

• Less than 3% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the UK will survive more than five years. These figures have not changed for 40 years.

• Nearly 50% of pancreatic cancer patients are diagnosed as a result of an emergency presentation to hospital – and research shows that pancreatic cancer patients visit their GPs almost twice as often as other cancer patients before being diagnosed.

Help us this month to raise awareness and improve these pancreatic cancer survival statistics.  Through your donation to Nicki’s Smile we can fund dedicated pancreatic cancer research in the UK and take action to raise awareness of the symptoms.