Emmerdale actor Tony Audenshaw will fulfil his wife’s dying wish by running the TCS London Marathon to raise money to develop a new diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer which could save thousands of lives. Audenshaw, who has played Bob Hope for 25 years, last ran the London Marathon in 2015, but said “it just felt right” to return to support the event’s charity of the year, Pancreatic Cancer UK, on what would have been the couple’s 24th wedding anniversary.
Ruth was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late 2015 and when she died at the age of 43 in April 2017, she left a message asking him to run for the charity if he ever did the London Marathon again. “She left all her friends and family a card to read after she died, and in it she said ‘if you run London again will you do it for pancreatic cancer?'” he told the PA news agency. “She also then added something like ‘no pressure, if you don’t fancy it don’t’ – which is very Ruth.”.
The actor has run the London Marathon 15 times before – and achieved his personal best of two hours, 58 minutes and 49 seconds there in 2006 – but has not taken part since Ruth’s diagnosis. He said: “I could have got a place the next year but we didn’t know how she was going to be. It just didn’t feel right. I didn’t want to spend all that time training because it is a big commitment when you’re training and being out of the house all the time.
“And then I just never really felt like it again.”. Seven hundred runners have already signed up to fundraise towards Pancreatic Cancer UK’s £2 million target to develop a breath test which could catch the disease earlier and increase the chances of life-saving treatment. Around 10,500 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the UK each year, and more than half of them die within three months of their diagnosis. Less than 7% live for five years.
The charity said diagnosing the deadliest common cancer in its early stages is a huge challenge for doctors because the symptoms, such as back pain, tummy pain and indigestion, are common to many less serious health conditions. There are currently no early detection tests and four out of five people (80%) are not diagnosed until the cancer has spread, meaning lifesaving treatment is no longer possible.
Only one in 10 (10%) of people with pancreatic cancer have surgery which is the only potential curative treatment but although Ruth had a successful operation at Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany, a post-recovery scan later discovered the cancer had returned. “It was such a body blow. She had been through so much,” Audenshaw told PA. “We thought she’d at least get a bit longer. “It just seemed too cruel.”.
The actor, who turned 60 in January, said Ruth “was a really kind, fun, capable person” who started running in her thirties and ran eight marathons – including a personal best of three hours, 53 minutes and 54 seconds at London in 2006 – as well as two ultras of 40 miles and 56 miles. The couple had met at an aerobics class – where Ruth was at the front and “looked a little bit like Madonna” – and later started dating.
They were together more than 20 years and have two children. “She was brill,” Audenshaw told PA. “A really hard worker, really dedicated. A fabulous partner, great mum, great friend to her mates, a sister and daughter.”. Ruth, who worked as a psychiatric nurse before becoming a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) therapist for the NHS, had always been quite anxious about her health and worried about getting cancer.
The actor said he was not initially concerned when she felt a bit off: “She didn’t feel quite herself. She lost her appetite a little bit. She felt a bit bloated. “This is the thing with pancreatic cancer, is that the symptoms are quite vague – things like that bloating, losing appetite, losing weight sometimes.”. Her GP referred her for tests but in October 2015 Ruth took herself to hospital with jaundice and an ultrasound scan found something on the head of her pancreas.
A biopsy found an adenocarcinoma – a type of cancer that starts in the glandular tissue of organs – and Ruth was told it was wrapped partially around an artery so surgery would be difficult. “There was a very bleak prognosis. They said they didn’t even know if chemotherapy would work at the time and it was really grim,” Audenshaw told PA. “It was just the worst day.”. Ruth was treated at The Christie in Manchester but Audenshaw said the treatment made little difference: “She processed it that she had limited life and she was going to do what she could in that time.
