LATE 2021, Dan Godley was a super-fit, ambitious, happy young man with the world at his feet.

The only worry in his life was a nagging tightness in his abdomen.

But his world was shattered when at 28, he was told he had stage three pancreatic cancer and had just 18 months to live.

Within minutes, Dan proposed to his girlfriend Anna.

Then, just before Christmas, his family surprised him with a gift he had always wanted – a gorgeous dachshund puppy which reduced him to tears of joy.

Four years on, and against all the odds, Dan, from Forest Hill, South East London, is still here and cancer free. He and Anna are happily married, and Lucy has been at Dan’s side ever since, helping him through tough treatment.

“Anna and I had had a long-standing joke about getting a sausage dog. And then one day, after my second round of chemo, I was super-ill – jaundiced, couldn’t eat, at the lowest weight I’ve ever been, and feeling very low. My family called me downstairs and presented me with Lucy.”

A family video captures the moment Dan holds her for the first time and buries his head in his hands to hide the tears.

“The first nine months of Lucy’s life was her and me lying around the house together while I went through treatment. She is quite special to me,” he said.

“Proposing to Anna and getting Lucy were the two positive things to come out of my cancer.”

Dan underwent seven months of chemotherapy and, having been told surgery was not an option, he was told he would have Irreversible Electroporation – also called NanoKnife – which uses electrical currents to destroy cancer cells.

However, when surgeons opened him up, they decided perform a total pancreatectomy, removing the gall bladder, duodenum, spleen and part of the bile duct. This was followed by three more months of chemotherapy.

He finished treatment in February 2023 and now has six-monthly checks.

Dan also underwent genetic testing which revealed he carried a faulty version of the BRCA2 gene, dramatically increasing his risk of the disease and other types of cancer.

Now 32, Dan is one of six siblings and they are all being tested for the mutated gene, along with their parents.

Dan’s uncle Alan, his father’s brother, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier this year and sadly died within three weeks.

Grateful for the life-saving treatment he received, Dan is now backing a Cancer Research UK drive to fund more life-saving advances.

Cancer Research UK researchers uncovered BRCA2 in the mid-Nineties.

One of the most famous ‘cancer genes’ known to science, this landmark discovery has saved and improved thousands of lives, including leading to the development of targeted cancer drugs.

With an ageing population, and cancer cases on the rise, Dan is urging people to donate monthly to the charity, to help fund more big breakthroughs like this.

Latest figures reveal around an estimated 714,000 new cancer cases will be diagnosed in London over the next 15 years* and, by 2040, it’s projected one person in the UK will be diagnosed with the disease every two minutes.** In the 1970s, it was every four minutes.***
Dan, who works for Hackney Council, said: “The statistics show why we must act now. To save lives tomorrow, Cancer Research UK needs our support today.

“I supported Cancer Research UK before – I ran the Richmond marathon in 2019 for them, long before I was diagnosed. But now it’s personal. I understand more than most, that decades of revolutionary research have given me choices my relatives sadly didn’t have. “

For Dan, the three years after diagnosis were an unpredictable round of hospital admissions, emergency surgeries and a feeling that any one of those incidents could kill him.

“It was a very mentally-disabling time,” he said.

But for the last 12 months, the hospital admissions have stopped, he has felt healthier and more stable and has dared to think about real life again.

He is back cycling, aiming for further promotion at work, and he and Anna have planned a Canadian adventure next summer.

Longer term, they would like to have children. And that is where the genetic testing is particularly important to them.

“I guess I was scared to look ahead because I didn’t know how long I would be alive and what kind of life I could establish. But in the last year, I’ve been able to do that.

“I also have to remind myself that I’m a survivor of a cancer very few people survive. And doing unremarkable things are pretty remarkable for someone like me,” he said.

Dan has to take drugs every day and he is now diabetic. But he is grateful for his life.

“I’m a very good example of a beneficiary of continued research. People need to see that people who are diagnosed with stage three pancreatic cancer can now live to tell the tale.”

“Cancer has changed me entirely. Before, I knew about people getting cancer, but it was quite distant. I felt like I had an iron blanket around me. Now I know it is a huge issue and life is a throw of the dice. My uncle, who was only 61 died of it!

“Cancer is the devil on my back that suddenly rides me and follows me around. I’m doing OK. But there are plenty of other people who need help.”

In the meantime, he, Anna and Lucy are busy getting on with the life Dan thought he might never have, and looking forward to Christmas.

Everyone has BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. They help repair breaks and mistakes in DNA that can lead to cells growing out of control. But, in people who inherit a fault in these genes they don’t function properly, which causes an increased risk of developing certain cancers – including breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancers.

Around a staggering 70% of women with faulty BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes will develop breast cancer by the age of 80.****

Knowing whether someone carries a faulty BRCA gene can help them manage their cancer risk. They may choose to have preventative treatment or attend screening to check for cancer earlier and more often.

“From finding BRCA2 to developing treatments for BRCA-driven cancers, Cancer Research UK has given hope to thousands of families like ours. Advances like this wouldn’t be possible without vital funds to keep the charity’s scientists working towards more ‘Eureka!’ moments. So, I hope people will give what they can.”

Thanks to the generosity of its supporters, Cancer Research UK has helped double cancer survival in the UK over the past 50 years.

The charity’s spokesperson for London, Lynn Daly, said: “With new technologies opening doors to new discoveries, we’re living in a golden age of research. But with nearly 1 in 2 people set to be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime,***** there’s so much more to do.

“Cancer Research UK is the world’s largest charitable funder of cancer research. More support right now could fuel faster progress than ever before and help more people like Dan live longer, better lives free from the fear of cancer. Together, we can power the next wave of breakthroughs.”

Donate to life-saving research at cruk.org/breakthroughs