Hello all or as we say in Melbourne, Australia: “G’day!”

firstly a big thanks to cancer research UK for allowing me to join the forum... my father, who does live in the UK, has just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and I am returning home next week for 3 weeks to be there for him and my sister who lives within 15 mins from dad.

unfortunately dad is not the first of my parents to be caught with cancer...my mum passed away some 10 years ago from breast cancer after a five year battle.

i, along with my wife and three children, were back in the uk for Xmas with as it was dad’s 80th...it was so good to see him but signs were not good then....it has taken some time for the initial diagnosis to come through and dad is due to have further tests on Thursday this week.  The initial diagnosis however is that this is an inoperable exocrine malignant tumour that has metastasised to the liver.

having read previous threads...this is not good....I do have, however, an amazing hope story to cling to in that my father-in-law had the whipple procedure back in 1983 and he is still going....that is despite of the rest of his pancreas being removed 3 years ago....he is now back cycling despite being fully diabetic and having just had a knee replacement...not bad for an 84 year old.

anyway...going to get the full diagnosis on Thursday so will post again then.

in the meantime...thanks for joining me on this journey however long it may be...I was so touched reading previous threads and although this may be selfish on my behalf, being able to share my father’s fight is cathartic....particularly for someone like me who tends to not be overly emotional on the surface.

thanks all.