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Cathedral to light up for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month

Gloucester’s most iconic landmark will be illuminated in purple light on November 1st, to mark the start of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.

The tower will be lit up as part of Pancreatic Cancer UK’s Purple Lights for Hope awareness campaign, and will join many other landmarks across the UK in a bid to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer.

The campaign presents an opportunity to celebrate the lives of loved ones dealing with a pancreatic cancer diagnosis and to remember those who have sadly died of the disease, whilst also spreading a message of hope. It has captured the imagination of patients, families, health professionals and campaigners since its launch last year when 60 landmarks and buildings lit up in the UK.

Sandie Conway, Marketing Officer at the Cathedral said: “We are delighted to be supporting Pancreatic Cancer UK’s Purple Lights for Hope campaign. We hope that by lighting up Gloucester Cathedral’s Tower in purple we are going some way to help put a spotlight on pancreatic cancer and to highlight a disease that many people still know so very little about.”

Only around four per cent of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer survive five years or more. This figure has hardly changed in 40 years.

It is the fifth most common cause of all cancer deaths in the UK and it is predicted that by 2030 pancreatic cancer will overtake breast cancer as the fourth most common cancer killer.

Alex Ford, Chief Executive of Pancreatic Cancer UK said: “Purple Lights for Hope presents a fantastic opportunity to raise crucial awareness of pancreatic cancer, which one person is diagnosed with in the UK every hour and has the lowest survival rate of all the 21 common cancers.

“On behalf of everyone at Pancreatic Cancer UK I would like to say a huge thank you to Gloucester Cathedral for helping us to spread our vital message of hope to people affected by the disease.”

To find out what other landmarks are lighting up this year, visit www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/purplelightsmap.

To get involved in Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month and order your free awareness pack, including purple glow sticks, visit www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/pcam .

Throughout the campaign, supporters will be uploading photos and updates from across the UK on Pancreatic Cancer UK’s social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter (using the hashtag #purplelights).