Dan Godley was initially told he had little more than a year to live after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but a rare decision made by surgeons while in theatre ended up saving his life
A cancer patient who was given months to live now has the all-clear after pioneering surgery saved his life.
Dan Godley was given the worst news possible after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The 30-year-old started a course of chemo two weeks after he was given the devastating diagnosis, but sadly scans showed the tumour was wrapped around a major artery, making the treatment too dangerous.
Civil servant Dan was then due to have a rare treatment that zaps cancer cells with an electric current, known as Irreversible Electroporation. But while he was on the operating table, doctors decided instead to carry out an extremely rare procedure – which involved removing the organ altogether.
Along with his pancreas, the pancreatectomy involved also removing his gallbladder and bile duct. The surgery is extremely rare and had not been found to have an effect on cancer survival before, with few statistics available.
But thanks to the surgeons’ decision, Dan, from Alsager, Cheshire, is now cancer-free – an option he “wasn’t aware” was even possible. “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,” he said.
“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.” As previously reported by The Mirror, 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 said 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 one of the biggest killers in the UK and the fifth-highest cause of cancer-related deaths. Some 9,000 Brits who are diagnosed die each year, sadly, and around half of those diagnosed are 75 or over.
But despite his young age at the time his cancer started, Dan was told by doctors they didn’t think they’d be able to treat him. “I got passed onto the surgeons because I was young and healthy,” he said.
“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, GloucestershireLive reports, 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 exercise quite a lot now, I cycle four times a week and go to the gym twice a week. “I’m now training to do a 100-mile cycle and I’ve had a promotion at work so that’s going quite well. “I’m starting to have a real success story now, as me and my wife got married after the operation.”
Sarah Carter is a health and wellness expert residing in the UK. With a background in healthcare, she offers evidence-based advice on fitness, nutrition, and mental well-being, promoting healthier living for readers.
