Please help me beat pancreatitis for good

Hi my name is Kris,

As many of you know I have been suffering with acute and chronic pancreatitis for the past 4 years starting early 2020. Over the years this has been completely debilitating and demoralising for me and us as a family. It’s stopped me from being able to work, volunteer as Vice Chair of the Eastbourne Hospitality Association and I have tried but not been able to go to college to retrain in a more flexible job in reflexology.

My treatment journey has been a complete mix, where I have been treated so well by medical staff but also had some horrendous treatment too. Back in 2022 after 2 years of attacks - sometimes weekly of horrendous pain, requiring many hospital stays and exploratory tests, I was told that there was nothing more that could be done as my condition was idiopathic. Up to that point my hospital visits were extremely lonely due to covid and no visitors being allowed. This is when we decided as a family to take a year away for what I was lead to understand was my last time to spend with my husband and son. I was dying.

Our journey took us to Australia and some final hope that this wasn’t the end. After coming back to the UK and unfortunately more hospital stays we decided to push things further to try and find out what could be done. I’m so lucky to have found a fantastic professor at The Royal Surrey hospital in Guildford.

This led me down to having a genetic test which today has come back positive! After all these years it means my pancreas was always going to get worse no matter any treatment I received or the lifestyle I lived. I have a faulty cystic fibrosis gene that has caused all the issues with my pancreas, digestion and kidneys. So this leaves me with the only option to have surgery to remove my pancreas. It is major surgery of 14 hours that will see me in ICU, HDU and on the ward for around 8 weeks. Followed by months of rehabilitation until I can start living again. After the past 4 years of multiple attacks my pancreas has had enough and so have I.

The worry from all the specialists is are that my pancreas is a ticking time bomb to turn cancerous due to the presence of the CFTR gene so now we have an answer, time is of the essence. I am being referred to a specialist at Kings College London for potential Islet Cell Transplant and Pancreatectomy. Removal of the pancreas will leave me completely dependent on insulin which the transplant could help with and I’ll also have to take digestive enzymes and various medications for the rest of my life.

Over the years we have spent 10’s of thousands of pounds on exploratory, invasive procedures which has run our funds down. We have had an estimate that this next set of support from various specialities will be around £40,000 to £50,000.

Myself and my family are in need to get our lives back and offer our amazing adopted son Fynley the stability from his Daddies he deserves, and be the husband Duncan deserves. With this in mind this is why I have set this page up. I have always been reluctant to share all the details of my journey and put the spotlight on me. But now is the time where this operation can literally save my life and get back to the “old” Kris. It’s likely to be a year long expensive process with elements that will be self funded.

Any support that you could offer would be so gratefully appreciated no matter how small.

All my love

Kris x