Meet our ambassador Cariad Lloyd
Cariad Lloyd is a comedian, podcaster, improvisor and writer. We are so proud that she is an ambassador for Pancreatic Cancer UK and we are enormously grateful to her for sharing her personal connection to the disease to help raise awareness of the deadliest common cancer.
Multi-talented Cariad’s extensive television career has seen her feature in Peep Show, Have I Got News for You and QI. She has also co-founded and performed in the award-winning Austentatious, an improvised comedy show in the style of a Jane Austen novel. Her book, You Are Not Alone, based on her experiences of grief was published by Bloomsbury in Jan 2023.
A personal connection to pancreatic cancer
Cariad’s father sadly died of pancreatic cancer when she was 15 years old, an experience that led to the creation of her award-winning podcast, Griefcast.
He received his diagnosis in February and he died in April, just two months later. Sadly, the cancer had already spread to his liver which had made him jaundice, prompting a visit to his GP.
Due to his late diagnosis, he was unable to receive treatment. Sadly 80% of people with pancreatic cancer find themselves in this position and are are unable to have potentially lifesaving surgery.
Support and awareness were limited at the time. Cariad and her family were given very little help once her dad had been diagnosed and received barely any information about what his diagnosis meant. It took her many years to be able to express what she and her family had been through.
Cariad shared with us what it was like losing her father at such a young age and the importance of feeling supported by friends, family or via services such as our specialist nurse Support Line, during such a tragic life event.
Joining the fight for early diagnosis
Heartbreakingly, just like Cariad’s dad, more than half of patients die within three months of diagnosis and survival rates for pancreatic cancer have remained unchanged since he died 25 years ago. In fact, five-year survival for pancreatic cancer has improved very little since the early 1970s.
Since sharing the story of her dad’s death on her award-winning podcast Griefcast, Cariad has been determined to improve outcomes for future pancreatic cancer patients.
Using her platform, she helps us to increase public awareness of the vague symptoms of this devastating cancer and and highlight the need for more vital research, particularly into early detection. Providing doctors with new tools to detect pancreatic cancer at its earliest stages could potentially save thousands of lives each year.