{"id":428430,"date":"2026-02-16T09:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T09:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/428430\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T09:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T09:41:10","slug":"our-dad-died-six-weeks-after-being-diagnosed-with-pancreatic-cancer-more-people-should-know-the-warning-signs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/428430\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Our dad died six weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer \u2013 more people should know the warning signs\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrzej Bielecki was initially prescribed indigestion tablets after going to the doctor<\/p>\n

Suzanne, Andrzej, and Scarlett on their last holiday together(Image: Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

The daughters of a 58-year-old man from Manchester who tragically died of pancreatic cancer<\/a> just six weeks after his diagnosis have urged others to learn about the warning signs<\/a> of the \u201cdeadliest common cancer\u201d. Andrzej Bielecki went \u201cback and forth\u201d to doctors for months, where he was prescribed indigestion tablets, before he was diagnosed.<\/p>\n

Emilia Rocky, 27, a multimedia officer living in Bristol, and Scarlett Bielecka, 28, who works in customer relations and lives in Manchester<\/a>, are the respective step-daughter and daughter of Andrzej, who died in February 2023.<\/p>\n

Scarlett remembered her father as an \u201cincredibly positive\u201d man, whom she would visit twice a week after her parents split up before she was three. She said he was a \u201cgreat\u201d father and shared memories of going wild camping together, or Andrzej teaching her to drive when she was a teenager.<\/p>\n

Click here to prioritise Manchester news in Google from the MEN<\/a><\/p>\n

Emilia said she first met Andrzej in 2018 after her mother, Suzanne, connected with him online, before becoming engaged within a year and married six weeks later, in 2019. She described Andrzej as a \u201cwarm\u201d and \u201ccaring\u201d person with a \u201czest for life\u201d, who was \u201cinstantly quite a father figure\u201d to her.<\/p>\n

According to Emilia, Andrzej started having acid reflux and indigestion for \u201cthree or four years\u201d before his diagnosis, which doctors initially advised him to treat with indigestion tablets. But by August 2022, Emilia said Andrzej added a second symptom of a persistent and \u201cdull\u201d stomach ache.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Andrzej was as a \u201cwarm\u201d and \u201ccaring\u201d person with a \u201czest for life\u201d(Image: Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

Scarlett said Andrzej went \u201cback and forth\u201d to doctors for months, where he was prescribed more indigestion tablets in September 2022, but Emilia said they \u201cdidn\u2019t really do anything\u201d. Andrzej had blood tests at a follow-up appointment, which Emilia said came back \u201cnormal\u201d, so he had an endoscopy to take a closer look at his stomach.<\/p>\n

This is when they discovered Andrzej had a hiatus hernia \u2013 where part of the stomach moves up into the chest \u2013 which doctors thought was a \u201cplausible explanation\u201d for the pain. But by mid-December 2022, Emilia said Andrzej\u2019s condition hadn\u2019t improved, so he went to the hospital and ended up being sent home without answers.<\/p>\n

Emilia told PA Real Life: \u201cBy Christmas<\/a> Eve, I was at my mum\u2019s house and he was in quite a lot of pain. He\u2019d also lost a lot of weight and was becoming jaundiced.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe actually felt like he was having a heart attack, so he went back to A&E and they said that it was probably gallstones. He asked to be referred for a scan and that showed he had a blocked bile duct and high levels of bilirubin in his blood, which was causing the jaundice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Emilia said Andrzej was sent home and he was referred to have an MRI at the beginning of January 2023, which is how he came to receive a phone call on January 9, confirming his diagnosis of advanced pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Andrzej on the Camino de Santiago(Image: Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n

Emilia and Scarlett said the family then had to wait a week for Andrzej to have an appointment with a consultant, who eventually confirmed the cancer had spread and that there were no treatment or surgery options available. He was given just six months to live, and was recommended for end-of-life care.<\/p>\n

Scarlett described hearing that news as the \u201cworst phone call\u201d of her life, while Emilia added: \u201cAndrzej accepted it completely, but everyone else was in shock, disbelief, and we couldn\u2019t accept that this could have happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the worst nightmare in the world and I couldn\u2019t believe that it was real. Andrzej just wanted to live the last few months that he had as much as possible. He\u2019d accepted what was going to happen and he wanted to spend time with family and friends,\u201d Emilia said.<\/p>\n

Over the next few weeks, the daughters said they embarked on several last trips with Andrzej that served as a good \u201cdistraction\u201d, including a week\u2019s campervan holiday around Scotland and a stay at an Airbnb in Chippenham.<\/p>\n

On the latter trip, Scarlett said the family did archery, played board games, and had a bonfire, but that she got \u201cquite upset at points\u201d. She added: \u201cI\u2019d just take a little breather in my room, then my dad would come in and we\u2019d watch an episode of a TV series called Early Doors together. We\u2019d just watch one episode each night and then go to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout this time, Emilia described feeling \u201cshocked\u201d at Andrzej\u2019s condition, including loss of appetite and subsequent loss of weight, as well as vomiting and immobility. Emilia added: \u201cBut he was always very positive and he didn\u2019t want to ever worry people or bring the mood down.\u201d<\/p>\n

By mid-February, Emilia said, Andrzej and Suzanne visited her in Bristol by train, but he was more withdrawn and in a lot of pain, so she drove them back to their home in Derbyshire within a few days.<\/p>\n

Emilia said this drastic change caused Suzanne to call the district nurses, who encouraged Scarlett to urgently come to say her goodbyes to her father.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I went up to see my dad, he was so ill and almost completely unrecognisable,\u201d Scarlett said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was in quite a delirious state as well, so I\u2019m not too sure what exactly he was aware of at that time. But I remember him just saying that we had another episode of Early Doors to watch together and that we\u2019d watch it the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scarlett said Andrzej managed to say he loved her and she said it back, which was the last interaction she had with her father before he died.<\/p>\n

That same night, Emilia said she stayed over and noticed that Andrzej was \u201crestless\u201d and experiencing \u201csevere delirium\u201d, which was \u201creally worrying\u201d. She added: \u201cIt was horrible seeing him that uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next morning, Emilia said her mother woke her up to let her know that Andrzej was gone. But when she entered his room, he had \u201ca smile on his face\u201d and was \u201ccompletely different\u201d from the way she\u2019d seen him the night before, which she said felt comforting.<\/p>\n

In May, Scarlett and Emilia said the family had a celebration of life instead of a traditional funeral, to honour Andrzej, because he didn\u2019t want people to cry.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of Andrzej\u2019s death, Emilia said she approached the charity Pancreatic Cancer UK to share his story, including his wish for his ashes to be scattered on the beach at the end of the Camino de Santiago in Spain, which he completed twice.<\/p>\n

Both Emilia and Scarlett \u2013 and Suzanne, and Emilia\u2019s boyfriend, Jamie \u2013 completed a 100km charity walk along the same Camino route in honour of Andrzej, which Emilia described as \u201cone of the best things\u201d she\u2019s ever done.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis cancer isn\u2019t anywhere near talked about enough,\u201d she said. \u201cIf Andrzej\u2019s story could at least help someone to know the symptoms of pancreatic cancer, it would make something positive come from the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Pancreatic Cancer UK, the disease is the \u201cdeadliest common cancer\u201d and more than half of people die within three months of diagnosis. About 80% of people with the disease are not diagnosed until after it has spread to other parts of the body, often meaning treatment is no longer possible.<\/p>\n

Scarlett said: \u201cIt\u2019s not a cancer that people really talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emilia added: \u201cIf Andrzej had got diagnosed any sooner, I don\u2019t know if it would have really changed how long he had left, but it would have given him so much more time to do more that he loved. He just didn\u2019t have the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about pancreatic cancer, visit Pancreatic Cancer UK\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrzej Bielecki was initially prescribed indigestion tablets after going to the doctor Suzanne, Andrzej, and Scarlett on their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[847,2864,59,102,2205,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-428430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cancer","tag-family","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-real-life","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}