to control symptoms if you're not able to have surgery because you are very unwell, or the cancer cannot be removed by surgery – it may be combined with radiotherapy (chemoradiotherapy) Smeenk, R. M., van Velthuysen, M. L., Verwaal,V. J., & Zoetmulder, F. A. (2008, February). Appendiceal neosplasms andpseudomyoxoma peritonei: A populationbased study. European Journal of SurgicalOncology, 34(2), 196–201

Try not to worry if your results are taking a long time to get to you. It does not mean anything is definitely wrong. A specialist will explain what the results mean and what will happen next. You may want to bring someone with you for support. If you're told you have pancreatic cancer https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/colorectal-cancer-facts-and-figures/colorectal-cancer-facts-and-figures-2020-2022.pdf Hope when there seems none is difficult to maintain unless there are advocates promoting the potential of hope.

Supportive care

It all started with the colour purple. Some, all or none of you may know that purple is the internationally recognised colour for pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer charities in the USA universally adopt the purple colour in their branding. Other pancreatic cancer organisations in the UK and abroad have also adopted purple as their brand colour. We have all seen what pink can do for breast cancer, so maybe purple can do the same for pancreatic cancer? We can but try. if pancreatic cancer is found early and it has not spread, you may be able to have surgery to remove it The flip side to this is that I too am a pancreatic cancer patient and as a survivor, I want to offer some form of hope to others who have found themselves in the same situation I did 6 years ago in August 2007 when I was diagnosed. And I continue to campaign so that more people will be able to have the same outcome that I have had.

Healthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. We avoid using tertiary references. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy. The problem is, we in the pancreatic cancer world are short on survivors to provide that advocacy role (as so many have successfully done for breast cancer and recently prostate cancer) as only 3 to 4 % of the 8,000 or so people in the UK newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year will survive 5 years. Randy Pausch (the American university professor who sadly died of pancreatic cancer in July, 2008) noted, “There aren’t celebrity spokespeople for the disease because too few survive long enough to take on that role.” So, we have the colour and we are a charity in the cancer sector. Surely we need a ribbon, don’t we? Well, we could, but the ribbon, to me, doesn’t say anything other than cancer. And while we are an organisation dealing with cancer we are also dealing with other things too such as awareness and survival.Being told you have pancreatic cancer can feel overwhelming. You may be feeling anxious about what will happen next. Medical News Today has strict sourcing guidelines and draws only from peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical journals and associations. We avoid using tertiary references. We link primary sources — including studies, scientific references, and statistics — within each article and also list them in the resources section at the bottom of our articles. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.

Surgery will remove part or, in a small number of cases, all the pancreas. All or parts of other organs around the pancreas may also need to be removed.