A grandmother learned she had cancer after she began 'burping a lot' like a character with the disease from TV soap Coronation Street.
Bea Walton was just 62 years old when she died following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
The grandmother, from Crewe, first noticed something wasn't quite right when she began burping a lot, and found she could relate to symptoms suffered by a cancer patient character on the ITV soap.
While undergoing scans at the doctors, Bea also started to develop jaundice, a condition that causes yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes, Cheshire Live reports.
In March 2015, Bea was tragically diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which eventually spread to other parts of her body, with the grandmother passing away in November 2016.
Bea's daughter, Nicola Smith, also from Crewe, has shared her Mum's story as part of World Pancreatic Cancer Day, and Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.
The 46-year-old said her Mum's symptoms first started a couple of months before her diagnosis.
She said: "She started burping a lot, which obviously is unusual I suppose for a lot of people.
"She went to the doctor and then she developed a bit of jaundice. She was still being scanned at the doctors.
"My Mum actually watched an episode of Coronation Street, and I think it was Hayley on Coronation Street had had the same symptoms, so she sort of mentioned to the doctor then about it that she'd watched this episode of Coronation Street and Hayley had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and then she was diagnosed in March of that year."
Bea underwent a Whipple operation at North Staffordshire Hospital, and then after that, chemotherapy at South Cheshire Hospital.
Sadly, the chemotherapy didn’t work, and the cancer spread to other parts of her body, with Bea losing her hair and struggling to eat because of sores in her mouth due to chemotherapy.
In October 2016, Bea deteriorated very quickly and sadly lost her battle against pancreatic cancer in November 2016.
Nicola described her Mum as a 'fighter' and said that family was 'the heart of what she was'.
She said: "She was very family orientated. Family was the heart of what she was.
"She was a fighter. She obviously had her down days when she had the cancer, you know when she lost her hair and she had sores in her mouth and everything, and there was a lot of times when she wanted to give up, but she did carry on fighting until the end."
"The youngest grandchild at the time, my Mum was determined to see her first birthday which was in the October, so she saw that and I think as soon as she saw her first birthday then that's when she sort of, didn't give up, but she knew she'd seen it and could rest."
Nicola now hopes to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer and the signs and symptoms that people should look out for.
Speaking about what she hopes to achieve, Nicola said: "To get the signs and symptoms of it out there to catch it early.
"Maybe if my Mum had known that burping and the jaundice was a sign earlier on then they might have caught it and she might still be here now.
"I mean there are lucky ones out there. But it's just really to get the signs and symptoms heard a bit more really."
