Finding Strength Amid Tough Pancreatic Cancer Fight
- Actress Olivia Williams, 55, lives with a rare form of pancreatic cancer after experiencing several misdiagnoses, including irritable bowel syndrome, which causes gastrointestinal problems. Williams said an allergic reaction to champagne helped kickstart her four-year journey to discovery.
- A CT scan finally pinpointed pancreatic cancer. She takes pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy medication after she eats. It’s “safe and effective at treating pancreatic exocrine insufficiency,” research published in the Journal of Pancreas says.
- Pancreatic cancer is a type of cancer that forms in the pancreas. It is more challenging to treat because symptoms usually don’t present themselves until the cancer has spread or metastasized. Symptoms may include weight gain, back pain, and jaundice.
- Early-stage pancreatic cancer tumors don’t appear on imaging scans, and people typically don’t experience symptoms until the disease has progressed. The pancreas’ location in the abdomen makes it harder to find tumors.
- Treatment options for pancreatic cancer may include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy.
Actress Olivia Williams, aged 55, has defied the odds, bravely battling pancreatic cancer for over six years. Her resilience shines brightly, particularly considering the challenges of detecting this disease in its early stages. Usually, this cancer is diagnosed in advanced stages, making treatment significantly more challenging.
“The Crown” actress is undergoing regular treatment, which has brought on a “new reality” for the award-winning actress.
The actress was misdiagnosed with depression, lupus (a condition where the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s tissues), and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). IBS is a “group of symptoms that occur together, including repeated pain in your abdomen and changes in your bowel movements like diarrhea and constipation,” the National Institutes of Health explains.
“It had taken more than ten doctors, across three continents, four years to track it down, but finally, I had a diagnosis…I don’t blame the doctors for not spotting the cancer earlier. No right-minded GP orders a CT scan for an actress allergic to Champagne,” Williams said.
Eventually, in 2018, Williams underwent a CT scan to discover she had a tumor in her pancreas. She was diagnosed with a rare type of pancreatic cancer called vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) carcinoma.
According to research published in the World Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology, a vasoactive intestinal peptide-secreting tumor is a “rare functional neuroendocrine tumor that typically arises from pancreatic islet cells.”
People diagnosed with VIP carcinoma may experience symptoms such as hypokalemia (low potassium levels), metabolic acidosis (build-up of too many acids in the blood), and watery diarrhea, which can mimic an IBS symptom.
Williams underwent a surgical procedure called a pancreatectomy (removal of all or part of the pancreas) and a splenectomy (removal of the spleen) for treatment. Following surgery, she started taking pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT), the Pancreatic Cancer UK says.
According to the Journal of the Pancreas, pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy is “safe and effective at treating pancreatic exocrine insufficiency.”
PERT helps Williams digest food when she eats.
“I’m probably much more at risk of being knocked off my bicycle because there are insufficient bicycle lanes in London than I am to die of this cancer,” Williams said.
“I have a soapbox to stand on and something worth saying, which is, ‘Don’t cry for me because I’ve got cancer – help people live with cancer.’ Because that’s the new normal, and there are so many people who are doing it alongside me,” Williams added.
Resilient Pancreatic Cancer Journeys
- “Stay Positive!” Alex Trebek Pens Touching, Private Note to Woman Pancreatic Cancer Survivor Who Worships Him
- ‘You Do Not Have Cancer’: Two-Time Pancreatic Cancer Survivor and Author Remembers the Words That Changed Her Life
- ‘It’s Warmin’ Up!!!’ Maria Menounos, 43, Sunbathes In Barely-There Bikini And Looks FABULOUS After Beating Cancer
The Silent Disease
Pancreatic cancer begins in the pancreas and is known as the “silent disease.” The more common form of the disease is pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).
Symptoms of the disease rarely show up until it has advanced and metastasized (spread) to other parts of the body.
Although pancreatic cancer survival rates have been improving, it’s still considered to be largely incurable. An exception to this is if the tumor is still small enough and localized enough to be operated on.
WATCH: Pancreatic cancer and early detection.
The National Cancer Institute identifies pancreatic cancer symptoms to include:
- Dark urine
- Pain in the abdomen
- Unexplained weight loss
- Light-colored stools
- Loss of appetite and fatigue
Treatment options for pancreatic cancer may include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy.
More Hope for Pancreatic Cancer Treatment
Based on Barczyk’s description of his diagnosis, the cancer was discovered in its later stages, making it more challenging to treat. However, some progress has been made for patients in this situation—one advancement involved PARP inhibitors.
RELATED: How Do PARP Inhibitors Work for Pancreatic Cancer?
PARP inhibitors prevent cancer cells damaged often during chemotherapy from naturally healing themselves and have shown significant promise in treating ovarian and breast cancer. However, a study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in June revealed that one of these PARP inhibitor drugs, olaparib (Lynparza), may also work for pancreatic cancer.
The drug extended the time that patients with advanced stages of pancreatic cancer who had BRCA gene mutations could live without the cancer worsening (a measurement doctors call “progression-free survival”). The drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Immunotherapy Offers Hope
Immunotherapy is the process of activating a patient’s own immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. These treatment options could be advantageous for patients who manage to catch pancreatic cancer in its early stages. A study funded by the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy combined two immunotherapy drugs with chemotherapy and found that some patients experienced either a shrinking of tumors or a slowing of the progression of tumors.
“Until now, immunotherapy hasn’t had a big role,” Dr. Allyson Ocean, Medical Oncologist at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian, told SurvivorNet. “Now this study combines two immunotherapy drugs with frontline standard chemotherapy, and we’re seeing response rates significantly better than what was published with other chemotherapies alone.”
Immunotherapy does not work for all patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Still, the advances presented in this study and others throughout 2019 give those facing this disease much hope.
Questions for Your Doctor
If you are facing a pancreatic cancer diagnosis, you may have questions but are unsure how to get the answers you need. SurvivorNet suggests asking your doctor the following to kickstart your journey to more solid answers.
- What type of pancreatic cancer do I have?
- Has my cancer spread beyond my pancreas? If so, where has it spread, and what is the stage of the disease?
- What is my prognosis?
- What are my treatment options?
- What side effects should I expect after undergoing treatment?
- Will insurance cover my recommended treatment?
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
