A father-of-two who put the ‘dull ache’ in his lower abdomen down to stress levels was eventually diagnosed with ultra-deadly pancreatic cancer — and has warned others not to dismiss warning signs.
Lee Rawlinson, 51, from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, has been told he has months to live, after doctors spotted the disease that is ‘inoperable’, and has spread to his liver.
The ‘brutal’ diagnosis came as a total shock — not only because he is a fit and healthy marathon runner, but due to his normal blood and urine tests.
Mr Rawlinson first visited his GP in January this year after he began experiencing a ‘dull’ pain in his lower abdomen.
But when tests came back as normal, he put the sensation down to being under an unusual amount of stress and relied on painkillers to get him through the day.
”I was taking painkillers every day, and co-codamol, and it wasn’t touching the sides,’ he said.
Then, in September, the pain became unbearable.
‘If you can imagine a scaffolding pole and someone slowly pushing it through you, right through to your back, it was like that.’
After bending over in severe pain at his son’s football training, he went to the A&E department at Southend University Hospital and had a CT scan four days later.
On October 31 he was invited back to the hospital where he was given the devastating news: He had pancreatic cancer — and it was terminal.
‘I said, “Have I done anything wrong to get this?” And the consultant said, “It was your destiny”,’ said the medical devices salesman.
‘It sounded brutal, but looking back on it, what he meant was, there was nothing you could do. This was always going to happen.’
Mr Rawlinson, who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a decade ago — a condition which causes the level of glucose in the blood to become too high — learned that his grandfather had pancreatic cancer.
Doctors informed him that his disease likely lay in a ‘dodgy gene’.
He said: ‘If there are people who have got relatives with pancreatic cancer, then they are at high risk.’
Because the cancer had spread to his liver, he was told the cancer could not be treated with surgery — the only current treatment that can potentially cure the disease.
The night of his diagnosis, Mr Rawlinson still went trick-or-treating with his children Darcey, 10, and Marley, seven before sitting them down with his wife Faye, 48, the next day to tell them the news.
Although Mr Rawlinson said their ‘worlds have been blown apart’, he is now focusing on making memories with his family, including surprising his children with a trip to Lapland.
He wants to raise awareness of this ‘horrible disease’ to help ensure it does not ‘destroy another young family’s life’.
‘This will be my last Christmas,’ Mr Rawlinson said.
‘I’m facing the jaws of death. I’m sailing towards it and I can’t do anything about it, yet I just have to face it.
‘I don’t fear death, I fear leaving my children and Faye behind — not being able to be there when they’re in trouble, not being able to make it better when tears flow, watching Marley developing his football, watching Darcey developing her theatrical talents, not being able to be there for Faye.
‘Survival for pancreatic cancer has barely improved since the 1970s and it’s got to change. I want to get people to sit up and listen and think, what can we do for this not to destroy another young family’s life?’
According to the charity Pancreatic Cancer UK, it is the deadliest common cancer and, currently, more than half of people die within three months of diagnosis.
Common symptoms include abdominal and back pain, unexplained weight loss and indigestion, loss of appetite, changes to bowel habits and jaundice.
However these symptoms are often mistaken for other, more common ailments such as irritable bowel syndrome.
The charity said 80 per cent of people with pancreatic cancer are not diagnosed until after the disease has spread.
Mr Rawlinson has now pledged to enjoy every second with his family and make ‘magical memories’ during the time he has left.
He said the ‘community has come together’ and been incredibly generous, hosting quizzes and other events in his honour.
His family has also set up a JustGiving page to help them make the most of their last months together.
Speaking of the family’s upcoming trip to Lapland he said: ‘The kids have never been on a plane before, so they’re going to fly for the first time and look out the window and see snow, and I’m going to see their reaction.
‘We are living the magic dream. Through such sad circumstances we are living our best life.’
Mr Rawlinson has urged people with any unusual symptoms or pains to ‘get checked out’.
‘I was told I’ve got just months to live and, ever since that day, I’ve just wanted to raise awareness for this horrible disease and for Pancreatic Cancer UK.
‘There’s not enough known about it. I want to be like Bowelbabe, Deborah James, I want to be the face of a campaign.’
