Local campaigners gathered in Parliament Street on Sunday (November 1st), with purple glow sticks, to mark the start of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month as part of Pancreatic Cancer UK’s Purple Lights for Hope awareness campaign. The campaign is intended to bring people together across the UK and unite them in their commitment to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer.
Purple Lights for Hope presents an opportunity to celebrate the lives of loved ones dealing with a pancreatic cancer diagnosis and to remember those who have sadly died of the disease, whilst also spreading a message of hope. It has captured the imagination of patients, families, health professionals and campaigners since its launch last year when 60 landmarks and buildings lit up in the UK, including the Trafalgar Square fountains in London, the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, the Brighton Wheel and the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth.
Rachael Maskell MP for York Central says:
“It is a real privilege to join local campaigners at the Pancreatic Cancer Purple Lights for Hope event. Pancreatic cancer is a disease that many people still know very little about and events such as this are essential in order to spread the word and raise awareness of Pancreatic Cancer and the associated symptoms.
Pancreatic Cancer is currently the fifth leading cause of cancer death in the UK with only around four per cent of people diagnosed surviving five years or more and this figure has remained relatively unchanged for the past 40 years.
The Purple Lights for Hope event has done an amazing job to highlight the requirement for urgent investment to develop treatments for Pancreatic Cancer and to shift the focus onto earlier diagnosis for this devastating disease.
I would really like to say a huge thank you to Mrs Clark for organising this event in York and for spreading the vital message of hope to all those that have been affected by the disease.”
Mrs Clark, event organiser says:
“I would like send my thanks to Rachael, Bells Café and all my friends and family for their support in the event.”
For more information please visit www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/signsandsymptoms
