'There were no warning signs... then she was gone'
19.11.2023 - 05:29
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
When Janet Rooney was hit by what felt like electric surges radiating through her body, she instantly knew something wasn’t right.
The mum-of-three visited a doctor and learned she had a heart issue, later being fitted with a pacemaker to help her heart beat at a normal rhythm.
But while tests and scans were being carried out, medics noticed something else. Janet had what appeared to be a growth on her liver.
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Doctors initially believed the mum had liver cancer. Sadly, the truth was far worse. The growth was actually a secondary cancer – with her main disease being hepato-pancreato-biliary cancer.
Janet was referred to The Christie hospital following her diagnosis in November 2022 but it was already too late. Her cancer was so advanced she died five months later – just a few days after celebrating her 60th birthday.
Her devastated husband Mike, from Todmorden, says there were no signs that anything was wrong. “There were absolutely no symptoms,” the 63-year-old told the Manchester Evening News.
“It’s a dreadful cancer because it hides itself. It’s so difficult to detect until it’s too late.
“[Medics] said there were things we could try, which we did, but it wasn’t to be. The cancer was already set in her body.
“It was a short period, really. We found out in September time that she had cancer and she passed away in the April.”
Hepato-pancreato-biliary cancer, or HPB cancer, is a serious form of cancer. In the UK alone, approximately 10,300 cases of pancreatic cancer are recorded every year.
However, only one in four