'Three months from cancer diagnosis to dying'

A man whose wife died three months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer says life since then has been "like being ambushed" by memories.

Phil Brown, 66, from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, said things seemed normal in September 2024 when he and his wife Anna started making retirement plans.

But Anna began experiencing reflux and discomfort in the stomach area, and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after a friend with ovarian cancer suggested she get tested. Anna died in January 2025.

"It showed a mass on her pancreas and spots on her liver... [and] we had three months from diagnosis to dying...," Brown added.

Brown said pancreatic cancer is "frighteningly difficult" to know is there, but if people are experiencing reflux, indigestion and stomach discomfort they "must not be afraid to mention cancer".

"If you're feeling discomfort in that area, get yourself a blood test. Ovarian and pancreatic cancer are hard to find so you have to insist and be proactive and don't be fobbed off," he added.

Brown said after spending 45 years together, "I constantly get ambushed, be it music and listening to the radio, I have to sometimes not listen to the radio, because of... memories with Anna and what we were doing when that record was on."

"When I gave the speech at the funeral, I found it remarkable writing it. Sometimes you get so used to someone, you forget how much you've done and it becomes extremely difficult," he added.

He said it was hard flying to Australia to see his son, because "everything, from getting on the plane, I used to do with someone, I'm now doing on my own".

After Anna died, Brown took on a 630-mile walk along the South West Coast Path in his wife's memory, a walk they had planned to complete together.

"I would walk at every available opportunity, but it was hard after the walk, as suddenly there was nothing…," he said.

"When my lovely friends ask me out for dinner, it's with two or four of them and I look at the empty chair next to me.

"And, bless them, I don't want them to stop asking me, but it's tough," he added.

Pancreatic Cancer UK said symptoms can include:

• Indigestion
• Back or tummy pain
• Unexpected weight loss
• Changes to poo

A spokesperson for the charity said as symptoms can be vague, pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose at an early stage.

There are also currently no screening programmes or early detection tests, with half of those with the disease dying within just three months of their diagnosis.

The charity has invested more than £1.1m to progress a world-first breath test for pancreatic cancer to a national clinical trial involving more than 6,000 patients with unknown diagnoses.

Scientists developing the technology at Imperial College London are hopeful the test could be used by GPs across the country within the next five years, the spokesperson said.

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