Pamela Deasy survived a “silent cancer” to return to college after her diagnosis at 46 years old.
The Cork woman found out she had pancreatic cancer, which is incredibly hard to treat and kills five in every six people diagnosed with it in Ireland.
However, four years on, she has not only received clear scans, but has now returned to college in the hopes of helping other cancer patients.
Read more: Woman bravely fought off cancer three times in less than 10 years after diagnosis at 13
Pamela explained that she wasn’t aware of the symptoms for pancreatic cancer, which are: tummy pain or back pain, digestive problems, jaundice, noticeable change in bowel habits, a new diagnosis of diabetes or diabetes that’s getting harder to control and unexplained weight loss
She told RSVP Live: “I wouldn’t have known any of the symptoms. I would have known there was something wrong with me for a couple of weeks before my diagnosis, but I had no ongoing symptoms.
“The issue for me was the tiredness. It was going on for a few weeks and I had the odd day where I had an upset tummy, but I wasn’t having it consistently enough for it to warrant me investigating it.
“It was the tiredness that sent me to the doctor. Afterwards, I got jaundice, which got me sent for tests to find out what was wrong."
She continued: "Unfortunately, by the time most people have been diagnosed the disease has spread too far.
“When they did the tests, I was told straight away that my tumour was 5.5cm. It had to be less than 2cm to qualify for surgery. Whipple surgery seems to be the only life saving measure.
“I had six bouts of chemotherapy and unfortunately my tumour didn’t shrink. Because of my age and because I was young, fit and healthy, we needed to target things aggressively to shrink it.
“I started a regime of daily radiotherapy plus weekly chemotherapy for five-and-a-half weeks. Thankfully, after that, it was found that my tumour had shrunk so I qualified for surgery.”
Pamela underwent 11-and-a-half hour Whipple surgery which removed parts of her digestive system.
“Whipple surgery is a rewiring of your digestive system. In that surgery, they removed part of my pancreas, part of my stomach, a piece of my intestine, my gallbladder and my spleen. They also took my lymph nodes around that area.”
Around Christmas that year, she knew something wasn’t right. A scan on Christmas Eve revealed that she had developed ascites, which is when the body retains fluid around your internal organs. She had a drain put in to remove the fluid.
“In the two years after the Whipple surgery, you might take a step forward, but then you end up taking two or three steps back inevitably. There’s nothing straightforward.
“Even though I had life saving surgery, I still have ongoing consequences for the rest of my life with my digestion, balance, concentration, tiredness, but I’m very fortunate to be here.”
Pamela explained that following her Whipple surgery, things went “pear-shaped”.
“I lost seven-and-a-half stone within a couple of weeks to months - a very short space of time. I had severe cachexia, which is where your muscles waste away. I needed to use a walking stick for two years.
“I used to say that my mind was 100% willing and able to get everything, but my body was only at 20-30%.
“I also have ongoing digestive problems. It’s always a fear for me wherever I go, ‘Where is the nearest toilet’, because that’s always at the back of my head wherever I go in life. I never would have thought about that before.”
There is a misconception that only people in their 70s and 80s are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, with Pamela highlighting that she developed the disease before turning 50.
“Somebody said to me one day that I’m a medical mystery, because I was under-50s, fit, healthy and I had been out doing 5Ks,” she said.
“I’m more involved in raising awareness now, because when I was diagnosed I knew nobody with pancreatic cancer. Anybody who I heard had pancreatic cancer had unfortunately not survived.
“When I got my diagnosis, the first thing I said was, ‘That’s it. It’s game over because I’m not going to get through this’.
“Yet I turned around and left it up to the experts. I’m so lucky to be walking around today, and I know that. I’m grateful for every day that I’m here.
“I have lit a candle every single day since I began my own recovery journey. The candle is for all those who will get that diagnosis of cancer, for those who are on the journey, for those who have survived and for those who are no longer with us.”
Since receiving clear scans, Pamela has decided to focus on taking back control of her life.
“From having cancer, I have gone back to college and I’m studying Religions and Global Diversity in UCC at the moment. I want to empower more cancer patients down the line.
“I did the Camino de Santiago with Breakthrough Cancer Research in May. Considering that I was using a walking stick up to two years ago, I walked 113km within the summer. I also would never have returned to college at my age.
“I have done many things that I would never have done and I am so grateful to be alive and be able to do all these things.”
Visit www.cancer.ie and follow www.instagram.com/pancreaticcancerireland for more information and support.
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