Throughout the trip, David\u2019s discomfort worsened and continued after they had flown back to the U.K.<\/p>\n
![\"Stock](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5c1a2ea0dadd8cdafcb6eec713cf2597.jpeg\"\/)
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Stock image of a doctor writing notes
Credit: Getty<\/p>\n
Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n He asked his wife to call their doctor because he felt unable to manage a phone conversation due to the level of pain he was in.<\/p>\n The pair had to wait three weeks for him to undergo a biopsy, which confirmed that he had pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n “You don’t get any warning and you have to make the most of whatever time you have got,\u201d Tacy told the BBC.<\/p>\n She alleged to the news outlet that they were told by staff at the hospital, “We can’t do anything, you can’t go home and we are looking for a hospice bed. Then he died a fortnight later.”<\/p>\n The American Cancer Society<\/a> states that pancreatic cancer accounts for about 3% of all cancers in the U.S. and about 8% of all cancer deaths.<\/p>\n The charity adds that the average lifetime risk of pancreatic cancer is about one in 56 in men and about one in 60 in women.<\/p>\n Common symptoms include pain in the belly that spreads to the sides or back, yellowing of the eyes or skin, itching and dark-colored urine, according to the Mayo Clinic<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other symptoms of the disease include loss of appetite, weight loss, pain and swelling in the arm or leg, tiredness or weakness and light-colored or floating stools.<\/p>\n Tacey told the BBC that after David had spent five days at St Peter’s Hospice in Bristol, his condition took a turn.<\/p>\n “The effect of the painkillers, medication and the disease was such that we had to stop all visitors,” she said, adding that her husband\u2019s condition deteriorated rapidly and he was “almost unable to communicate.”<\/p>\n On the evening of his death \u2014 around five weeks after their European vacation \u2014 Tacey told David that she would sleep in the bed next to him.<\/p>\n “After a few minutes, I went back over to his bed and seen that he had gone,” she told the BBC. David spent 12 days in the hospice before he died.<\/p>\n Tacey is now raising money for St Peter’s Hospice by taking part in the Tour de Bristol bike ride, a new fundraising campaign launched by the charity.<\/p>\n The April 18 event will see fundraisers cycle either 24 miles, 40 miles or 62 miles.\u00a0One of David\u2019s favorite activities was to go cycling.<\/p>\n The hospice told the outlet that patients typically spend an average of 44 days in its care and that it wanted to raise money to help continue supporting those accessing end-of-life care.<\/p>\n