Overview
- Rebekah Stubbs, 44, and Laura Smith, 36, are sharing their family’s story after their mother died in 2012 and their father in 2023, each within months of diagnosis.
- Neither parent had obvious risk factors, highlighting that pancreatic cancer can strike people who are health‑conscious and do not smoke or drink heavily.
- Their accounts describe initially vague signs—reflux, excessive thirst, bowel changes, and persistent right‑sided back pain—followed by primary‑care delays and late detection.
- Pancreatic Cancer UK says roughly half of people diagnosed die within three months, a statistic mirrored by the parents’ rapid declines.
- The sisters flag NHS‑listed warning signs and note a charity‑funded clinical study exploring a breath test as a potential faster diagnostic pathway.