Hereditary PC

[Neg73]

I lost my father back in February to PC (66 years old), along with my paternal gran the year previous to PC (87 years old) and much earlier my great uncle (57 years old). I have been in too much pain to deal with the reality of a familial connection and was offered no advice from GPs. I decided recently to research it myself and have pushed for a genetic consultation in local hospital and also have registered with EUROPAC.

Has anyone else been in this situation? I promised my father as he died that my sister and I would not endure this awful disease and we would research all possible prevention. I have made huge changes to my lifestyle but am aware that familial PC hasn't got a lot to do with changing lifestyle. I am constantly anxious and tearful and desperate for my children's future, added to my huge grief over Dad. I don't want to appear to he heartless as there are so many people already with this disease and I nursed my father at home at the end, so I know how cruel this can be. I was just hoping somebody could give med advice or support as there seems to be none despite my attempts with GP etc.

I feel guilty and selfish for writing this.

[J_T]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

So sorry to hear about the loss of your father. I can't offer any practical advice, you have already registered with Europac, that's the only thing I would have been able to recommend.

Of course you not selfish to be worried. I lost my husband last October and my three children have also been worried about familial pc even though their dad is the only one we know to have had this cancer.

Maybe the specialist nurses on this site, Jeni and Dianne, might be able to offer more relevant advice, I hope so.

Best wishes

Julia

[Neg73]

Thanks Julia. Have sent a message to the two nurses for advice and I'm very sorry to hear of your husband's loss and my heart goes out to you all. My two are quite young are not aware of this situation, but feel that I may have put a time limit on their lives. Trying to be positive but grief and the mind does strange things. Hope everything is ok for your family. X

[Didge]

My bf has PC and his mum died of it. His children are too young to be screened but they will hopefully sign up when they are adults. But whatever screening you get, I would say vigilance is the most important thing, for the small symptoms - acid reflux, becoming diabetic (so easy to monitor your own blood sugars regularly), change of bowel habits, all those things which might be, and probably are, from trivial causes, but with a family connection, don't wait, get scanned immediately.