00:00Speaking at the foundation's annual luncheon and support group event held at Blue Line Restaurant yesterday to mark the start of World Pancreatic Cancer Month in November,
00:11founder Natalie Sapga said that pancreatic cancer has become the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally, with local numbers believed to be on the rise.
00:21We are seeing a massive increase in pancreas cancer. We have situations where we have eight people in a one-mile radius with pancreas cancer, and something doesn't make sense.
00:33So we need to demand better about what's going into our fruits and vegetables, what's going into our water system, the toxins, the lavats and the burning and the oil and gas industry.
00:45And we need to make people more accountable for what's happening.
00:49Sapga urged persons to pay attention to their bodies and not ignore persistent symptoms as she revealed that emerging global data showed a rise in pancreatic cancer among young women between the ages of 15 and 50, which she described as alarming.
01:07We need to make our doctors more accountable for diagnosing pancreas cancer early.
01:14So we try to educate that a sudden onset of diabetes after 50, which some of you might have had that experience with one of your lost family members, you know, with weight loss, for example, not weight gain, or, you know, a chronic pain that lasts more than three weeks in your belly, your back, sudden weight loss for no reason.
01:36There are things, there are things, the jaundice, all these things we need to make our GPs, especially because they're the first people people are going to go to, aware.
01:46Founded in memory of businessman John E. Sapga, who lost his battle to pancreatic cancer in 2017,
01:52the foundation has since been committed to patient support, research funding, and partnerships with local and international organizations, including the Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society.
02:06Charlotte Kisto, TV6 News.
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