A devastated daughter has spoken about losing her mum to pancreatic cancer – urging others to donate money in the battle against shocking survival rates.

Lynsey Hayes, 26, of Harold Wood, lost her mum Daphne to pancreatic cancer earlier this year and her heartbreaking story comes as Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month kicks off this week.

Mother-of-two Daphne Hayes, 61, also of Harold Wood, had originally been suffering from jaundice when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in April last year.

After undergoing chemotherapy, Daphne underwent an operation to remove the tumour, but found it had spread.

Lynsey said: “Mum continued having chemotherapy in order to slow things down, but she was looking skinnier than ever and soon became jaundice again.

“We were then told that no more could be done. Time was not on our side. My Mum spent another three weeks in Queen’s Hospital, deteriorating a little each day. She was taking morphine regularly, she stopped eating solids, she found it difficult to go to the toilet, she found it difficult to walk and to even lift her legs onto her bed. Although we made arrangements with palliative care nurses and had a variety of equipment and care packages put in place for my Mum to come home, she had deteriorated so much that on the day she was due home, she had to be referred to Saint Francis Hospice.

“After only two short days there, she died only 51 weeks after diagnosis on 23rd April 2011, aged 61.”

“After seeing my beautiful Mum go through so much pain and suffering I know that we need to take a stand against this dreadful disease.”

The Hayes family has since helped raise more than �13,000 for Pancreatic Cancer UK in her memory.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer deaths in the UK and has a lower survival rate than many European countries, the US, Canada and Australia.

Around 7,600 people are diagnosed with the disease in the UK every year, with less than three per-cent surviving more than five years – figures that have not changed in 40 years.

To donate, visit: www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk