Ali Stunt, a 40-year-old mother of two, was blindsided when a routine blood test revealed high blood sugar. Despite maintaining a healthy lifestyle and having no family history of illness, she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. However, the initial diagnosis failed to capture the true cause of her symptoms, which ultimately led to a devastating pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
Initially, Stunt was advised to manage her condition through diet and exercise, habits she already followed. Over the following months, her blood sugar levels did not improve, and new symptoms emerged. She experienced a peculiar back pain, radiating to her front, and a gnawing pain after eating that left her doubled over. Despite multiple visits to her general practitioner over two months, she was repeatedly told she had indigestion, a muscle strain, or irritable bowel syndrome. Over-the-counter remedies provided no relief.
The pain intensified, accompanied by diarrhea and unexplained weight loss. A visit to an emergency department, prompted by her husband witnessing her severe pain, resulted in pain medication and discharge without a clear explanation. An out-of-hours doctor later suggested pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas, and prescribed morphine.
When faced with a four-to-six-week wait for an NHS ultrasound, Stunt opted for a private consultation. The consultant immediately recognized the severity of her condition and admitted her. An ultrasound and CT scan revealed a 5.5cm tumor on her pancreas, leading to a diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, the most common form of pancreatic cancer.
The diagnosis was profoundly difficult, especially when informing her children, aged ten and 14. Weeks later, Stunt underwent extensive surgery to remove 80 percent of her pancreas and her spleen, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Stunt's experience underscores a growing medical concern: the link between new-onset diabetes and pancreatic cancer. Professor Hemant Kocher from Queen Mary University of London notes that this connection is increasingly recognized but not fully understood. A significant challenge is the frequent misdiagnosis of this condition, known as type 3c diabetes or pancreatogenic diabetes, as type 2 diabetes. Experts state that there are no simple tests to distinguish between the two, as they can appear very similar at the point of diagnosis.
Some researchers suggest that a portion of individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes may, in fact, have type 3c, particularly if they are otherwise healthy and develop the condition suddenly. Stunt herself was told a diagnosis of type 3c did not exist until she was referred to an endocrinologist. Pancreatic cancer has one of the lowest survival rates among common cancers, with a significant proportion of patients diagnosed too late, often with an average life expectancy of four to six months.
Nearly two decades after her diagnosis, Stunt is now the founder of the charity Pancreatic Cancer Action. She has been instrumental in persuading the UK's health watchdog, NICE, to include new-onset type 2 diabetes, when accompanied by other symptoms, in its pancreatic cancer referral guidelines. This development is seen as a crucial step toward earlier diagnosis. Stunt emphasizes the importance for individuals to be aware of potential warning signs and to advocate for further investigation when something does not feel right.