Footballer Frank McGarvey's family call for pancreatic cancer awareness
- Published
Frank McGarvey with granddaughters Jessica and Antonia Kane
The family of footballer Frank McGarvey who passed away from pancreatic cancer have called for more awareness of the disease, a year on from his death.
The ex-Celtic and St Mirren striker died aged 66 on 1 January 2023, three months after being diagnosed with the disease.
His children say several signs of the cancer were missed by doctors.
Pancreatic cancer has the lowest five-year survival rate of common cancers, being less than 8%.
Frank first felt unwell in February 2022, but was told his symptoms could simply have been indigestion.
On another occasion he called an ambulance due to the pain he was in, but was pronounced "fit as a fiddle" by doctors in hospital.
Frank McGarvey holding granddaughter Antonia Kane while with his family
His daughter Jenny Kane told BBC Scotland News: "My dad always said to us before he died that you need to let people know about this disease. It was traumatic, and painful, and I'm angry at the amount of times he was misdiagnosed. For him to go there in pain, and be told that he had indigestion is just beyond me."
After initially feeling pain around his pancreas, Frank began losing his appetite, rarely eating and "wasting away" during the summer of 2022, losing four stone.
His daughter added: "It's the most painful cancer you can have. My dad was a professional footballer, so he was used to being hurt and just getting on with things. I don't think he'd asked a doctor for anything in about 40 years. When you see your dad in such pain it's the saddest thing to watch.
"With hindsight there were so many things he was having that are common to pancreatic cancer. But we had no idea about it."
More than 900 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in Scotland every year, according to the charity Pancreatic Cancer Action Scotland.
Frank McGarvey with his daughter Jenny on her wedding day
The four McGarvey children, who include Jenny's siblings Sean, Paul and Scott, say that the suddenness of their father's diagnosis and death hurt tremendously.
They believe that greater awareness of pancreatic cancer symptoms could have led to the disease being identified quicker for Frank, a grandfather of eight.
Sean McGarvey said: "I don't know if any of us really got the chance to come to terms with it.
"You have these thoughts that you'll see your parents pass away peacefully, maybe holding them. But he was in pain, and on drugs a lot of the time so wasn't himself. It was a really tough time to go through. You'd have these waves of emotion just hitting you."
The family say the only consolation has been realising how much their dad was loved, with tributes pouring in from across Scottish football, which Sean described as "very humbling".
The striker scored 174 goals from 499 senior league appearances and earned seven Scotland caps over a lengthy playing career.
Frank McGarvey enjoyed a prolific career at clubs including Celtic
Now his family plan to push for greater change, from making posters and leaflets available in medical waiting rooms to ensuring all doctors are aware of the symptoms of the disease.
They have also supported the ongoing #MISSEDatChristmas, external campaign by Pancreatic Cancer Action Scotland.
For Jenny, the way her father tried to stay positive despite the diagnosis is an inspiration to her.
She has named her new baby Frankie, in memory of him.
She said: "Dad wanted to keep going, he always wanted to see his grandkids so much as they were everything to him. It makes you wonder that if the cancer had just been diagnosed earlier, maybe he would have survived.
"It's morbid, but when he passed on New Year's Day he gave what we thought was his last breath and we were all sobbing. Then about a minute later he gave another breath for the last time and we just thought that was our dad - he was fighting it till the end."