Everyone knew Billy. And everyone who did know Billy had a great love and respect for him. He was just that type of guy. He would always try to help others. Nothing was too much trouble for him. And whatever he was doing he'd go about it with a smile and a joke. He loved life and the many opportunities that it gave him. In particular he loved spending time with family and friends. And that feeling was mutual. We are devastated by our loss and we miss him everyday.

Dad died 9 short months after being diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. If it wasn't for the skill of the doctors we may have only had him with us for 2 weeks following his diagnosis. This is all to common a story for Pancreatic Cancer patients. Only around 20% live for a year with only 3% surviving long term. The lack of an early detection screening program means that by the time Pancreatic Cancer is diagnosed it is usually already in an advanced state and the only option for those patients is palliative care.

Despite Pancreatic cancer being the fifth most common cause of cancer death in Scotland the amount spent on pancreatic cancer research, including early detection, accounts for only 1% of the total cancer research spend. As a result of this underfunding patient outcomes for Pancreatic Cancer sufferers haven't improved for 40 years. 

As a family we have decided that we want to do all we can to help improve these shocking statistics. We hope that in the future that an early detection screening program can be developed which will see less families having to go through that terrible short journey from diagnosis to end of life with their own loved ones.

With that in mind we have decided to raise money in Dad's memory for the Pancreatic Cancer fund at the Beatson Cancer Charity. This allows us to target the money at Pancreatic Research within Scotland as Dad would have wanted and also it recognises the care and compassion that he received whilst receiving his chemotherapy there.

There will be loads of events and challenges that friends and family will be participating in to raise money for this cause. Many of them are still in the planning stage at the moment and will be announced in due course. In the meantime to kick-start the fund all the money raised at Dads funeral has been added. This was the fantastic sum of £1100.42

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