Last month Pancreatic Cancer Action caused a stir  with a campaign which featured patients wishing they had other types of cancer. Chief executive Ali Stunt explains why the campaign was necessary.

We are a small charity facing a big problem; pancreatic cancer. The fifth biggest cancer in the UK, pancreatic cancer has been little known, poorly understood and chronically underfunded for decades and these are some of the reasons why survival rates have not improved in 40 years. Despite the efforts of many organisations, the survival rate remains just 3 per cent.

Cancer is a terrible disease that has a devastating effect on hundreds of thousands of people each year. It is a world-crashing moment when you or your loved one is told they have cancer, filling you with a terrifying feeling of uncertainty.

Sadly, there is still no cancer that offers patients the certainty of survival, but for a patient facing a cancer diagnosis with a high survival rate, there is hope. For a pancreatic cancer patient facing a survival rate of 3 per cent and an average life expectancy of just four to six months, there is little to no hope at all. As a very rare and lucky pancreatic cancer survivor, who experienced this desperation first-hand, I am determined to change this.

Lack of awareness of the disease and its symptoms is a big problem; half of patients had not heard of the disease before their own diagnosis. Another major factor is the chronic lack of research funding dedicated to pancreatic cancer. In 2012, under 1 per cent of cancer research funding – £4.4m – was spent on pancreatic cancer. While no early detection method or screening tool exists, greater awareness of pancreatic cancer and its symptoms is vital to saving lives.

Last month, Pancreatic Cancer Action launched an advertising campaign in London and Manchester regional papers to bring the UK public’s attention to the problems facing pancreatic cancer patients today. It features real patients wishing they had another cancer, which have significantly higher survival rates than pancreatic cancer. 

The idea, devised in conjunction with Team Darwin, came from my own experience of being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer when faced with a grim prognosis. It is also something we hear time and time again from pancreatic cancer patients and families who have said they’d prefer they or their loved ones had a cancer which offered a better chance of survival.

The three patients that took part all felt the campaign reflected their real feelings. We are not suggesting that the pain, suffering and loss experienced by those affected by other cancers is any less, but purely that these patients want the opportunity for hope that they will have a chance of survival.

Given the nature of the campaign we knew we needed to research it among all key audiences. We spoke to people who’d been affected by other cancers as well as those who’d been affected by pancreatic cancer. This research showed that once people understood the advert, the risk of genuine offence was very low.

 

We have had much criticism of our campaign from both charities and those affected by the cancers mentioned in the advert. We apologise to anyone offended as we did not set out to upset people.

However we have also seen support for our campaign from across the world, including breast cancer sufferers, politicians and charities, including Macmillian Cancer Support.

The campaign has been covered globally and we are pleased that it has raised awareness of the disease among millions as well as highlighting some of the wider issues relating to research funding and cancer in general.

We have made people stand up and listen, and have drawn attention to the need for greater awareness of pancreatic cancer and its symptoms to increase the currently dire survival statistics.

We have followed up the campaign with more posters raising awareness of the symptoms of pancreatic cancer to increase the rate of early detection, and therefore the chance of surgery, which in the absence of any new potentially curative therapies, is the key factor for saving lives.

Ali Stunt is chief executive of Pancreatic Cancer Action. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the age of 41 in 2007. In January 2010 she founded Pancreatic Cancer Action.