AN AWARENESS event for pancreatic cancer will be held on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the death of actor Alan Rickman who died of the disease.

Rickman, star of stage and screen – and who played Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies – died on January 14 last year aged 69.

York grandmother Margaret Clark will be running an awareness stall at Reel Cinema, Blossom Street from 10am this Saturday to help people recognise the signs of pancreatic cancer, which is the UK’s 10th most common cancer, yet has the worst survival rates for all 22 common cancers.

Margaret was diagnosed with the disease in September 2013 and began treatment six months later. Her cancer is now stable and she has regular blood tests, checks and scans to make sure there is no change.

She feels she is one of the lucky ones because only four per cent of patients make their five-year milestone. Shockingly, the average life expectancy on diagnosis is just four to six months.

At Reel on Saturday, Margaret will have a publicity board with images of people who have died from the disease, including their age and the time between diagnosis and death. Besides Rickman, photographs of many other famous victims will be on the board, including actor Patrick Swayze, celebrated tenor Luciano Pavarotti and actress Joan Crawford. Joining them will be photographs of ordinary people who have also died from the disease – the images having been sent to Margaret by their relatives who follow her campaigning posts of Facebook.

Margaret will be handing out information leaflets about the symptoms of pancreatic cancer with the aim of urging people to see their GP sooner than later.

She said: "Too many people are being diagnosed too late and not able to have any treatment at all then dying within weeks of diagnosis. I have been given this extra time and I want to do something useful with it."

Pancreatic cancer is the UK’s fifth biggest cancer killer, claiming 26 lives each day – more than 9,000 a year.

The symptoms, which are varied and can mirror less serious problems, can include back pain, vague indigestion or abdominal discomfort that doesn’t respond to prescribed medication, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, pain when eating, steatorrhea (fatty stools that are often pale and smell foul), jaundice and depression.

Margaret ’s symptoms began with acid reflux . The tablets she had been on for six months, Lansoprazole, had stopped working, then she noticed she was losing weight and had lower back pain and was feeling full after only eating a few mouthfuls. After an array of tests, doctors found a tumour around the artery at the top of her pancreas. For the next five months she endured six chemotherapy treatments and 30 cycles of radiotherapy. Today she is keeping well and grateful doctors diagnosed her disease relatively early.

One of the problems, she says, is that doctors often confuse the symptoms with indigestion, IBS or gallstones – often with fatal consequences for patients.

She says early diagnosis is the best way to improve outcomes, and doctors need to be better at recognising the disease in patients, while researchers need to find better ways to diagnose and treat it.

Self awareness is so important too, adds Margaret. “If you have got more than one of these symptoms such as back pain, indigestion or jaundice go to your doctor.”

Find out more at pancreaticcanceraction.org