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When Craig Sullivan started getting stomach pain, he put it down to a stressful house move and having a lot on at work. At 44, Craig's stomach issues were initially put down to irritable bowel syndrome. However, his condition worsened and, after tests and scans, the father of two was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer a year later.
His wife Natalie, from Ruddington in Nottinghamshire, says: "I wish we'd pushed for more help sooner." Craig's friends and family have now come together to raise money for private treatment, which they hope will prolong his life. Under current guidelines, he cannot have those treatments on the NHS because of the type of cancer he has. "I don't even think I could put into words how devastating it's been," Natalie adds.
"You have that thing when you wake up in the morning and for a second you don't think about it. And then you do. "People don't realise it's not just about potentially losing someone you love, it's that your whole life changes in a second." Senior policy advisor for the charity, Charlotte Lynch, added: "Pancreatic cancer is really hard to diagnose, which is why people get diagnosed quite late because symptoms are often vague.
"The treatments for the disease are also really harsh and have severe side effects so sometimes people are just too unwell to have them." She said they were regularly lobbying the government for more funding to go into research. A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson said: "We know there is more to do to ensure that people are getting the care they deserve. "That's why we are piloting a targeted approach that searches patient records to find people most at risk of pancreatic cancer, which could give more people a fighting chance and spare the heartbreak of countless families." NHS England said decisions on which treatments were available on the NHS were made by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE).
In a statement, a spokesman said decisions on which treatments to offer patients were made based on "the benefits and risks" of using them in individual cases. Friends and family of Craig and Natalie are hoping to raise £50,000 to pay for further private treatment in either Oxford or Germany. It would not cure him, but could give him extra time with his sons, 14-year-old Alfie and 10-year-old Quinn.
Natalie said they had been "overwhelmed by the support" ahead of a charity football event on Saturday at the Pelican Colts football club, in Lenton Lane, where Craig used to be a coach. One of the organisers, Laura Burton, said: "We're hoping it will be a great family day out, and it will raise vital funds for Craig. "The community has really come together to support Craig and Natalie and their boys.
"Ruddington is not a big place but there's a huge community gathering for them, and it's heartwarming to see the efforts people have gone to."
Source: BBC
