At just 28, Dan Godley was diagnosed with stage three pancreatic cancer – but is now cancer-free following a rare, pioneering surgery
A man was told he had just 18 months to live after visiting the doctor with tightness in his abdomen.
Dan Godley, 30, was soon diagnosed with stage three pancreatic cancer at just 28 years old. Just two weeks after receiving the devastating news, he began Folfirinox chemotherapy. Scans revealed, however, that the tumour was wrapped around a major artery. Dan, originally from Alsager, in Cheshire East, proposed to his partner Anna, 30, in hospital – just seconds after hearing his prognosis.
But the civil servant admits being told that he had cancer “didn’t sink in” immediately. “I had a call telling me to go to hospital and I knew it was something bad,” he said. “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?”
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Dan was scheduled for a rare treatment called Irreversible Electroporation, which uses an electric current to kill cancer cells. While on the operating table, doctors instead decided to perform a total pancreatectomy, removing his pancreas, gallbladder and common bile duct, Stoke-on-Trent Live reports.
The surgery is rarely performed as it has limited proven effectiveness and very few statistics exist because it is so rare. Doctors told him before his operation they “didn’t think” they would be able to treat the cancer.
Dan 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 were doing surgery, felt like a win. I was just trying to stay positive, which paid off to be honest.”
Remarkably, after the diagnosis in November 2021, Dan is now cancer-free thanks to the pioneering surgery, which he “wasn’t aware” was even possible.
Pancreatic cancer is the fifth biggest cancer killer in the UK, claiming around 9,000 lives each year. The disease is rare in people under 40, with around half of new diagnoses occurring in people aged 75 or older. Dan was declared cancer-free after the surgery in July 2022, but underwent further chemotherapy, finishing in February last year.
Since then, he has married 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.”
D’Angelo’s family announced on October 14 that the Grammy-award winning singer had died from pancreatic cancer. Dan believes D’Angelo’s public cancer diagnosis means millions of people will be more aware of the disease. “If I knew more about pancreatic cancer, I would have got action sooner,” he said.
“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 added.
