Pancreatic cancer survivor hails new Queen’s University research programme

A £300,000 Cancer Focus NI charity-funded three-year programme with Queen’s University Belfast will investigate using the body’s immune system to attack pancreas and throat tumours.

Regular gym-goer Ivan McMinn, 57, is fit and healthy eight years and two months after diagnosis with a condition which rapidly kills around three-quarters of patients due to lack of early symptoms.

Mr McMinn said: “Should I be thankful? Absolutely. Am I thankful? Absolutely.

“I realise every day just how fortunate I am.

“You start this process with a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old, and you now have a 22-year-old and a 20-year-old. That is just the basis of thankfulness.”

Mr McMinn, a former senior bank official living in Belfast, was super-fit and training for a marathon when diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after presenting to doctors with jaundice.

He was fortunate that the tumour had blocked a duct and given an early warning denied to many.

He received a major surgery known as the Whipple procedure followed by eight months of chemotherapy.

Four years later he was told the disease had returned and was inoperable, with only a 10% chance of more chemotherapy working.

He said: “Eight months later after chemotherapy I was told that the tumours were not visible and I am still here today.

“At various parts of that journey there were some reasonably hard conversations about whether survival was possible or not.

“With the help of incredible medics, strong faith, some incredible drugs, family support, I came through.”

The increased sophistication of treatment due to research was seen in the difference between when he was first diagnosed and the cancer returning, he said.

“I am a consequence of that, being here.

“I am an absolute convert, in that we need ongoing research to further improve the survival chances of those who are unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

“There are some incredible programmes under way and I am delighted that Dr Richard Turkington has decided to take on research into pancreatic cancer and oesophageal cancer.”

Oncologist Dr Turkington said relatively small amounts of the UK cancer research budget were spent investigating the diseases he is taking on.

“Immunotheraphy harnesses the power of the body’s immune system to attack the cancer cells,” he said.