Nathan Mansell and whānau wrap around their mum Tracy who has stage 4 pancreatic cancer and just months to live.
Nathan Mansell and whānau wrap around their mum Tracy who has stage 4 pancreatic cancer and just months to live.
Nathan Mansell works in IT, where systems are black and white.
But his world was thrown into a kaleidoscope of colour seven weeks ago when his mum was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and given just months to live.
The 33-year-old (Ngati Awa) Otaki local told the Herald his mum Tracy Motley was feeling off-colour just before Christmas and went to her GP in January. She was sent for blood tests and two weeks later received the earth-shattering news.
“Mum was told she had cancer and had to go through the process of a biopsy and other tests,” Mansell said.
“Once she got those results she was told by the oncologist she was stage 4 advanced pancreatic cancer and the chemotherapy - which she started today - would make her comfortable and prolong her life but her cancer was not something she could recover from.”
Every day, 17 Kiwis are diagnosed with a gut cancer - one of the five cancers that includes stomach, liver, pancreatic, bowel, oesophagus and gallbladder.
That’s more than 6000 Kiwis every year, making gut cancers the most common type of killer cancer in Aotearoa.
This month, the Gut Cancer Foundation hopes to raise $350,000 through its Give it Up drive where people can get more mobile and exercise and give up alcohol or sugar for the month. You can participate or donate to the campaign.
Mansell and his three siblings have joined the Give it Up campaign to raise awareness of gut cancer.
The Mansell children with their mum Tracy. Photo / Supplied
“When we heard the news about Mum’s cancer, it came as a major shock to us as a whānau,” Mansell said.
“My younger sister found the Give it Up kaupapa and we have all given up drinking alcohol for the month to raise putea [money] to support an awareness campaign.
“Like many whānau, by the time our loved ones get the diagnosis, it’s too late.
“But little things like less sugar, less alcohol, exercice, watch your diet and look for signs might help save lives.”
Mansell, a dad of two, said his mum’s issues started with a sore back and the cancer quickly revealed itself as it spread through vital organs in the stomach area.
“I wish Mum would have known what gut cancer is and identified it earlier,” he said, “but we have to accept what we have.”
Last weekend the whānau, who are spread out across the motu, gathered at Mansell’s whare (home) in Otaki to spend time with their 55-year-old mum, who had travelled from Tokoroa.
“Mum’s not even close to 60 and we have to accept that she’s not going to be here for much longer,” Mansell said.
“But anything our whānau can do to help other whānau who find themselves in a similar situation we will, and we hope more people get behind the Give it Up campaign,” Mansell said.
