Before Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst lost his almost three-year battle with pancreatic cancer, he spoke of how it stole one of his great loves.<\/p>\n
He raised tens of thousands of dollars for charity when he auctioned off his prized 1979 Ludwig drum kit, which was used on the band’s second album.<\/p>\n
“I can’t thrash rock ‘n’ roll drums anymore,” Hirst said.<\/p>\n
“That’s a big rock ‘n’ roll kit, and you need a lot of breath power to play a drum kit like that.”<\/p>\n
Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst dies aged 70<\/a><\/p>\n Rob Hirst was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2023.<\/p>\n The Midnight Oil founding member, 70, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2023.<\/p>\n He died “peacefully, surrounded by loved ones,” according to a statement posted by the band on Tuesday.<\/p>\n “Rob is now free of pain,” the statement read.<\/p>\n “The family asks that anyone wanting to honour Rob donate to Pankind, Pancreatic Cancer Australia or Support Act.”<\/p>\n How prevalent is pancreatic cancer?<\/p>\n Pancreatic cancer is estimated to be the eighth most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia.<\/p>\n One in 70 people will have been diagnosed with the disease by the time they are 85 years old, according to the Cancer Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n It can occur in any part of the pancreas when a malignant cell develops, but in about 70 per cent of cases it is located at the head of the pancreas.<\/p>\n The cancer can impact the way the pancreas operates, including the functioning of the exocrine or endocrine glands.<\/p>\n The endocrine glands regulate<\/a> growth, metabolism and reproduction, while exocrine glands create<\/a> substances such as tears, milk, sweat, saliva and digestive juices.<\/p>\n The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimated about 4,825 people were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2025.<\/p>\n The average age of diagnosis about 72 years old, according to the Cancer Council.<\/p>\n Professor Thomas Cox, a cancer cell biologist at the Garvan Institute for Medical Research, said it was difficult to detect the early onset of pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n “The pancreas is very deep inside the body. It sits sort of under the liver,” he said.<\/p>\n “If we think about other tumours such as melanoma, which you can obviously see, or perhaps breast cancer, which can be felt as a lump, or testicular cancer \u2014 something that you can actually feel.<\/p>\n “It’s not like you would be able to feel your pancreas from outside the body.<\/p>\n “The pancreas is very difficult to sort of diagnose as having a tumour without more invasive tests such as either [scans] or particularly a biopsy.”<\/p>\n What are the symptoms?<\/p>\n When pancreatic cancer is in its early stages symptoms are unlikely to show.<\/p>\n These often occur only after the cancer has spread or is large enough to affect other organs.<\/p>\n The most common symptoms include:<\/p>\n Pain in the abdomenLoss of appetiteNausea and vomitingWeight lossChanges in bowel movements, including diarrhoea, constipation or the feeling of incomplete emptying<\/p>\n Less common symptoms include severe back pain and the development of diabetes, which occurs in 10 to 20 per cent of people with pancreatic cancer, according to the Cancer Council.<\/p>\n Professor Cox said other impacts of the disease were damaging effects to the pancreas or to the liver, resulting in conditions such as jaundice.<\/p>\n “Which is obviously yellowing of the skin as the liver begins to malfunction or the bile duct becomes blocked,” he said.<\/p>\n “So these are some of the physical complications and they’re sort of linked to the fact that the pancreas is beginning to fail in its job.”<\/p>\n Professor Cox added that as the disease progressed cachexia begins to develop,<\/a> which is a cancer-induced wasting syndrome.<\/p>\n It impacts almost a third of cancer patients, and about 80 per cent of those with advanced cancers.<\/p>\n “[Cachexia] is the loss of body mass, loss of muscle, and patients become very gaunt,” he said.<\/p>\n “That’s often as a result, again, of the pancreas and the digestive system failing so that the body’s no longer absorbing nutrients properly.”<\/p>\n What treatment is available for it?<\/p>\n Pancreatic cancer was the third most common<\/a> cancer-related death in 2025, and only about a third of suffers survived one year after their diagnosis.<\/p>\n The survival rate after five years was about 13 per cent<\/a>.<\/p>\n Professor Cox explained the poor survival rate was because most people were diagnosed with stage three or four cancer.<\/p>\n It meant surgery to remove the primary tumour was not possible, which would occur during the early stages of the cancer.<\/p>\n “So even though the incidence is much lower than other cancers, the actual survival significantly drops,” he said.<\/p>\n Professor Cox said those with stage four had metastatic cancer, which was when the cancer had spread from the pancreas to other organs in the body.<\/p>\n The treatment for these patients was similar to that of stage three patients.<\/p>\n “But a lot of the time this is pretty much given in more of a palliative sense to control the disease a bit, relieve pain,” Professor Cox said.<\/p>\n “Stage four pancreatic cancer comes with a very, very poor survival [rate] because of the fact that it is already spread around the body.”<\/p>\n