<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>Exclusive:</span></strong><span> For anyone, having a loved one diagnosed with </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/cancer" rel="" target="" title="cancer "><span>cancer</span></a><span> is devastating.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Especially when it's one of the least survivable kinds.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But Steph McGuire, 31, lost her mother, father and aunt to the same kind of cancer over just 12 months.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/teen-girl-killed-alleged-hit-and-run-margate-city-of-moreton-bay/20503398-fd4f-4c86-b6ef-e604a9f19986"><strong><span>'Beautiful and gentile soul' killed a month before her 18th in suspected hit-run</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's hard to know what to feel it's just so surreal," McGuire, from Melbourne, said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"When mum got it, obviously it hit hard.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Then a few months later, my dad got diagnosed, which was horrible. </span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/cancer-pancreatic-plea-disease-wiped-out-stephs-beloved-family-within-a-year/955a325d-9066-41fb-88b9-b04eb35beac2" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It was stage four, my mum was stage three.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Then my aunty got diagnosed a year or so later.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"You're like, 'Surely it's not the same.'"</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The mother to Harvey, four, and Hazel, 10 months, with husband Shaydan, is now worried about her own health.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Her mum, Vicki Jackson, who worked at a law firm, died aged 65 in July 2024, just over two years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Her early symptom was itching palms, a sign of bile in the bloodstream.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/german-shephard-arnie-found-dead-alongside-hilux-ute-wynnum-queensland-police-appeal-for-help/3d45ce7f-b95d-48ca-9165-3a2d5a6dbe66" rel="" target="" title="Beloved dog stolen alongside ute in Brisbane found dead"><strong><span>Beloved dog stolen alongside ute in Brisbane found dead</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Her former CEO father, Steve, who was given the devastating news that he too had pancreatic cancer just months after his wife's diagnosis, died a year after that, aged 66.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He had bowel issues, which flagged a problem, though he defied expectations to live for three years after chemo and a trial treatment.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In between losing her parents, Steph's aunt and her mother's sister, Valerie Boyd, was also diagnosed with and died from the disease.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She had diabetes, which can be an indicator.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Steph is now doing genetic testing to see if she's likely to develop it, though testing done on her parents indicated it was not a genetic type.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>An early diagnosis is crucial to surviving.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It definitely freaks me out, once the symptoms are there, it's really too late," she says.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Advocates are also pushing for more money to help save lives.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/nut-allergy-max-mckenzie-anaphylaxis-melbourne-coroners-court-inquest/1feba752-68df-4b65-9e8b-16e8876a3296"><strong><span>Nut allergy to brain injury: what happened to Max?</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Michelle Stewart, CEO of Pankind, said earlier detection and faster treatment - as well as funding for research - is needed.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Survival has improved, but not fast enough and when several members of a family are diagnosed, it underscores the urgent need to understand familial and genetic risk," Stewart said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Pankind has a family health checker </span><a href="http://familychecker.pankind.org.au" rel="" target="" title="online "><span>online</span></a><span> so Aussies can assess their risk.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Last month, a new study for a screening </span><a href="https://pancreaticcentre.org.au/treatment/clinical-trials-and-research/aprise" rel="" target="" title="programme "><span>program</span></a><span> was announced, trialling surveillance methods for those at higher risk.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It aligns Australia with the global PRECEDE study, which aims to lift five-year survival rates from 13 to 50 per cent within a decade.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A spokesman for the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing said the Australian Government supports health and medical research with $650 million annually from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and around $1 billion a year through the National Health and Medical Research Council's (NHMRC) Medical Research Endowment Account (MREA).</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It has invested more than $13 million for research focused on pancreatic cancer in the past decade, he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Between 2015 and 2024, the NHMRC has expended $41.5 million towards research relevant to pancreatic cancer.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"On 2 May 2024, Minister (Mark) Butler announced the MRFF Low Survival Cancers Mission (LSCM).</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It will provide $150 million over 10 years, from 2027-28, for research to improve care and health outcomes for people with low survival cancers, including pancreatic cancer."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/professor-thomas-schlacher-death-threats-after-suggesting-4wds-should-be-banned-parts-of-queensland-beaches/2c4c22f0-a7d7-49e2-919f-429d987ef1a6"><strong><span>Professor flooded with death threats after what he wants banned from Queensland</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Pancreatic cancer facts</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Pancreatic </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/cancer" rel="" target="" title="cancer "><span>cancer</span></a><span> is the third-leading cause of cancer death in Australia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Symptoms include abdominal and back pain, jaundice, loss of appetite, unexplained weight loss, fatty stool, new onset or hard to manage diabetes and nausea.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Patients diagnosed have just a 13 per cent chance of surviving for five years, according to Pankind.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Only three out of 10 people diagnosed will be alive after a year.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's a number which has not increased for 15 years, unlike the figures for other cancers such as breast cancer, which is now at a 93 per cent five-year survival </span><a href="https://nbcf.org.au/about-breast-cancer/breast-cancer-stats/" rel="" target="" title="rate"><span>rate</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>World Pancreatic Cancer Day today, November 20.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/pancreatic-cancer-diagnosis-mum-melissa-pregnant-after-11-hour-surgery-exclusive/e4e49902-067d-4c4a-8b0b-31b6876d20c4" rel="" target="" title="Melissa underwent an 11-hour surgery to remove her tumour. Her body was hiding another secret"><strong><span>Melissa underwent an 11-hour surgery to remove her tumour. Her body was hiding another secret</span></strong></a></div></div>