Marathon runner, 35, from North Carolina tells how extremely deadly cancer started with a subtle symptom that was dismissed as a harmless condition

A North Carolina woman diagnosed with deadly cancer while in peak physical condition is urging people not to ignore changes in their bodies.

Holly Shawyer was training for a marathon in May 2023 when she experienced severe abdominal pain, which she understandably dismissed as a malignant problem.

While doctors thought she simply had a stomach ulcer, Ms. Shawyer’s pain became so bad that she had to drop out of the marathon. She refused to take no for an answer and sought out a specialist.

Further scans revealed a grapefruit-sized tumor on the tail of her pancreas. In December, she was diagnosed with stage one pancreatic cancer, the third deadliest cancer in America.

Holly Shawyer, 35, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year despite being in top shape and training for a marathon

“I’ve always been pretty health conscious – I watch what I eat and exercise regularly. I rarely got sick, maybe once every few years I’d get a stomach virus,” Ms. Shawyer said.

“When I was diagnosed at age 30, it felt like a huge pause button was pressed on my life,” the math teacher said‘I was in excellent health before this.’

However, Ms. Shawyer is one of the few lucky patients who is diagnosed at stage one, before the cancer has spread and becomes incurable.

Pancreatic cancer, which kills eight out of ten patients within five years, is sometimes called a ‘silent killer’ because most cases are only discovered at a later stage, when there are no symptoms.

In stages three and four, the disease is virtually untreatable, with a survival rate of only three percent. Meanwhile, stage one has a 15-fold higher chance, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

For Ms. Shawyer, the diagnosis came as an extra shock, as she had maintained a healthy lifestyle and avoided risk factors such as smoking. However, the exact cause of the disease is largely unknown.

This gave her ‘a lot of hope’, as doctors are confident that her prognosis is much better than that of most patients with the disease.

She added: ‘I’ve always been quite health conscious – I watch what I eat and exercise regularly. I rarely got sick, maybe once every few years I’d get a stomach virus.’

Now she is urging others to get tested at the first sign of trouble and not to delay important care.

Mrs. Shawyer completed 12 rounds of chemotherapy. Each round involved spending one day in the hospital and another 46 hours at home receiving chemo.

She said that while she was “mentally prepared” for the diagnosis, given that doctors had given her a one in three chance that the tumor was cancerous, “I don’t think I could have mentally prepared myself for the impact that this diagnosis and the chemotherapy would have on me.”

Ms. Shawyer is also one of the millions of young, fit Americans who have had to put their lives on hold because of a cancer diagnosis, despite quitting smoking, drinking and eating unhealthy diets.

“Sometimes it was really hard going through this physically taxing treatment and then also feeling like I was missing out on something in life,” she said.

‘Friends of mine got engaged, got pregnant, got promoted, and gave birth during my treatment. It was really hard to choose between being happy for them and celebrating their problems, and being sad for myself. Because I had no idea when those things would happen to me.’

Most cases of pancreatic cancer are diagnosed after they have spread, leading to a low survival rate. However, Ms. Shawyer is one of the few with stage one, which puts her survival rate at 44 percent

Ms. Shawyer is now cancer-free and working on completing her bucket list. “My biggest lesson from all of this is just to take advantage of the time you have, knowing that you have it,” she said

In July, Ms. Shawyer was declared cancer-free, though doctors are monitoring her closely to make sure the disease doesn’t return. She notes, however, that life is not the same as it was before the diagnosis.

“Just because someone is ‘cancer free’ or finished with treatment doesn’t mean their life will automatically go back to normal,” she said. “I still have a lot of side effects from chemo, even a month later, like hair loss and nerve problems in my hands and feet.”

“When you’re going through treatment, it’s like you’re in survival mode and you can only focus on the physical aspect.”

“Now that I have completed treatment, I feel like I can finally process the emotional and mental toll this has taken on me.”

Ms Shawyer is now working on her bucket list out of a “greater desire to not waste a single moment” and encourages others to be their “own biggest advocate” when it comes to their health.

“The biggest lesson I learned from this is just make the most of the time you have, while you know you have it,” she said.