After tests, Deeny was told it was something much more concerning: she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no idea it was something like cancer<\/a>. I never took it on board; I had no idea it was so serious,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Deeny told her story on Wednesday at a public meeting of cancer experts and survivors called the \u201cDare2Cure\u201d public symposium held as part of a Dublin<\/a> conference on bringing cancer research to patient treatment. <\/p>\n Her father, James Deeny, the former chief medical adviser for the State who later worked for the World Health Organisation<\/a>, was very concerned. <\/p>\n \u201cI think [my parents] thought I wouldn\u2019t be here for very long,\u201d she says, due to the late stage at which she was diagnosed.<\/p>\n Prof Oscar Traynor of St Vincent\u2019s University Hospital in Dublin carried out a \u201cwhipple\u201d procedure: a complex operation to remove tumours and other conditions in the head of the pancreas, duodenum and bile ducts.<\/p>\n [\u00a0New drug offers \u2018first glimmer of hope\u2019 in treatment of pancreatic cancerOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n \u201cI never had any chemotherapy. It had metastasised into one of my lymph nodes so that was removed. I think they thought I was palliative. They didn\u2019t give me anything; probably because they thought I wouldn\u2019t be able for it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember seeing my father standing when I was in intensive care. He just stood there with tears rolling down his cheeks. I never saw him cry again, but that\u2019s all I remember: the tears rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n Deeny says she was in the Dublin hospital for \u201cthe best part of a month\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cI was in a nursing home to rehabilitate for another month or so. And then I went back to my lovely old thatched cottage,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n [\u00a0Pancreatic cancer: \u2018I just can\u2019t explain what it felt like hearing those words\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n Deeny celebrated her 90th birthday last May. She never thought she would be here today; at one point she even bought herself a grave. <\/p>\n But she has lived a full life. She works as a painter and is a stained-glass window artist, with her work including the nave windows in Galway Cathedral.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very old. I was a war baby, really,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cPancreatic cancer is always viewed as a really sad story, but I\u2019m still here. I was 90 last May. It\u2019s a mystery. I just wanted people to know that the odd one of us does make it. It\u2019s not all hopeless.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Deeny\u2019s survival surprises even herself, for people with a more recent diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, the tide is beginning to turn.<\/p>\n About 600 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer \u2013 one of the most aggressive forms of cancer \u2013 in the Republic every year.<\/p>\n Survival rates for the disease are particularly low due to the vague nature of the symptoms associated with early-stage disease and subsequently the late-stage diagnosis.<\/p>\n Only about 10 per cent of patients in Ireland are still alive five years after diagnosis. This is compared with five-year survival rates of about 88 per cent for breast cancer and 93 per cent for prostate cancer.<\/p>\n But there is hope on the horizon for improved survival rates and treatment options.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, an advanced clinical trial led by Irish woman Dr Eileen O\u2019Reilly, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York, revealed that the drug daraxonrasib doubled the survival time for people with metastatic pancreatic cancer when compared with chemotherapy.<\/p>\n According to the study, patients receiving the drug lived for a median of 13.2 months, compared with 6.7 months on standard chemotherapy.<\/p>\n This is the first time a single anticancer drug was found to target a gene called RAS, which is one of the drivers of pancreatic cancer. <\/p>\n O\u2019Reilly says the finding represents a \u201csea change\u201d in the treatment of the condition.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been traditionally treated with chemotherapy. Chemotherapy has been helpful to shrink cancer and extend life, and that\u2019s been the major tool that we\u2019ve had,\u201d she says, speaking to The Irish Times on the fringes of this week\u2019s conference hosted by Dublin City University and Cancer Clinical Research Trust.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s been known for a long period of time is that RAS, this gene, is switched on in pancreatic cancer and it\u2019s involved in the development, growth and spread of the cancer.\u201d <\/p>\n She says there have been many, many approaches over decades \u201cbased on really solid science trying to target RAS, but it just hasn\u2019t been effective.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very insidious disease, and for more people there aren\u2019t early warning signs. This [finding] was unprecedented in pancreatic cancer. That notion of it being non-druggable is now firmly refuted,\u201d says O\u2019Reilly.<\/p>\n The drug has now been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration in the US and was fast-tracked for review by the European Medicines Agency this summer.<\/p>\n Pancreatic cancer is typically viewed as a disease of older people. But O\u2019Reilly says prevalence is increasing generally and it is also being seen more frequently in younger people. A similar, concerning trend has been identified in colorectal cancer.<\/p>\n![\"Pancreatic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/QLG4VGQS3VHKVKX6YP4CSPOSAU.jpg\")
Pancreatic cancer survivor Gillian Deeny. Photograph: Paulo Nunes dos Santos for The Irish Times <\/p>\n![\"Dr](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HXQRGXGRS5ALVGRXD4GFNJCJFE.jpg\")
Dr Eileen O\u2019Reilly speaks during a public talk on breakthroughs in pancreatic cancer at the Herbert Park Hotel in Dublin on Wednesday. Photograph: Paulo Nunes dos Santos for The Irish Times <\/p>\n
![\"Dr](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4KQZQS7GHRGWFDP3ZTWAPMC4BM.jpg\")
Dr Eileen O\u2019Reilly speaking to attendees after a public talk on breakthroughs in pancreatic cancer. Photograph: Paulo Nunes dos Santos for The Irish Times <\/p>\n