Mark Davies found out there was nothing more doctors could do for his incurable cancer over a Teams call. The consultant told him there and then he had weeks, maybe a couple of months, left to live.
Seven days later Mark sadly died leaving his wife and two young boys still trying to come to terms with his diagnosis. The 40-year-old had initially gone to his GP with stomach and back pain in March 2020 but the Covid pandemic was ramping up and Mark was only able to get a telephone appointment. His wife, Hannah, said he made 19 calls in total between April and June before he went to A&E in excruciating pain.
It was only then that doctors discovered the fit and active dad had stage four pancreatic cancer. Neither knew what that meant. Hannah said her first question was if you could live without your pancreas. "It was devastating, and it still is," Hannah said from her home in Penarth. "We knew it was inoperable but we had hope," she continued. Mark was put straight on to treatment and the couple hoped chemotherapy would at least buy him some time. He only managed two rounds of treatment. A pancreatic cancer breakthrough last year means diagnosis could soon be made three years earlier - read more here.
