Dan Godley, 32, from Forest Hill, south London, survived his battle with pancreatic cancer, the same condition that took the life of Grammy award-winning R&B artis, D’Angelo
A man was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer like R&B singer D’Angelo after noticing “tightness” in his abdomen.
Dan Godley, 32, was diagnosed with stage three pancreatic cancer after suffering from tightness in his stomach. He started having Folfirinox chemotherapy just two weeks after his diagnosis, but scans revealed the tumour was wrapped around a major artery.
The civil servant was then supposed to have a rare treatment called Irreversible Electroporation – which uses an electric current to kill the cells. While he was on the operating table, doctors decided to do a total pancreatectomy in which his pancreas, gallbladder and common bile duct were removed. In July 2022, Dan was declared cancer-free thanks to the pioneering surgery.
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D’Angelo’s family announced last night (Tues) that the Grammy-award winning singer had died following a battle with pancreatic cancer. Dan believes D’Angelo’s public cancer diagnosis means millions of people will be more aware of the disease.
Dan, of Forest Hill, South East London, said: “If I knew more about pancreatic cancer, I would have got action sooner. If awareness comes from a celebrity or someone like me with a cautionary tale, that is important to get out there. People are often shocked when I tell them I survived pancreatic cancer as I was diagnosed at a late stage of the disease.
“D’Angelo was only in his 50s when he died, he was very young – early detection is key. The fact D’Angelo shared his diagnosis means a lot more people will now be aware of the disease.”
Dan was diagnosed with the cancer in November 2021 and was told the average amount of time he had left was 12 to 18 months. He proposed to his then-girlfriend Anna, 30, in hospital – just seconds after hearing the bad news.
But Dan says being told that he had cancer ‘didn’t sink in’ straight away because he ‘didn’t understand how it was actually happening.’
Dan, said: “I had a call telling me to go to hospital and I knew it was something bad. I was already stressed and then I got the diagnosis. It’s difficult to put into words what it was like. I was with Anna and my mum and they were just balling but it didn’t sink in for me until at least a day. I was just sat there like ‘how is this actually happening to me, I don’t understand?”
Pancreatic cancer is the fifth biggest cancer killer in the UK, as 9,000 people who were diagnosed with it, die every year. Around half of people who are diagnosed with the disease for the first time are aged 75 or over and it is uncommon under the age of 40.
But even though Dan was only 28 when he was diagnosed, doctors told him before his operation they ‘didn’t think’ they would be able to treat the cancer.
He said: “I got passed onto the surgeons because I was young and healthy. But I got told, that they didn’t think they would be able to do anything about it. I knew it wasn’t a good cancer to have so I was already in a place where I was pretty certain it was going to kill me.
“It was devastating but I was willing to take anything at that point. Even though they said it was unlikely they could do anything, the fact they was doing surgery, felt like a win. I was just trying to stay positive, which paid off to be honest.”
Dan was declared cancer free after the surgery in July 2022, but had to have chemotherapy after, which finished in February last year. Since then, he’s got married to Anna and has been able to start cycling four times a week and go to the gym.
Dan said: “I wasn’t even aware that the surgery was possible as nobody had mentioned it as an option, so it was pretty crazy. I had just woke up from the surgery and was on a lot of pain medication and they told me they had took the whole tumour out. It took me a few days to actually understand what they were saying but it was a really weird thing to try and adjust to.”