AN Addingham man who considers himself ‘extremely lucky’ after beating the odds and surviving cancer has thanked everyone who contributed to his village coffee morning that raised an impressive £642 for the charity Pancreatic Cancer UK.

Ramon Porter, was diagnosed with the particularly aggressive pancreatic cancer in 2012 and says with an average five year survival rate of less than four per cent, the outlook was grim.

“ I had a major operation at St James’ Hospital in Leeds, followed by a couple of less invasive operations and six months chemotherapy,” he said.

“ The outcome is I am still here making a nuisance of myself and regard myself as an extremely lucky guy.”

Mr Porter said he wanted to do what he could to raise awareness of the disease, which he says has such a wretched survival rate because of its very aggressive nature.

It is also difficult to recognise the symptoms, which invariably only become apparent late on in the progression of the disease, although there are now moves to improve the survival rate.

“ However, after 40 years of standing still, there is now a big drive to improve the survival rate by improving both the treatment and GP training of the recognition of the very few early symptoms,” said. Mr Porter.

He organised a coffee morning at St Peter’s Church Hall, Addingham on May 4 and was overwhelmed by the support from friends, family other survivors and church volunteers. It included the sale of homemade cakes and also some of his own paintings.

“The event was a great success with the hall full all morning and £642 raised for the charity. I am looking at repeating the event next year.

I must thank all the team who helped; other survivors, friends, relatives, church volunteers and all the villagers who donated prizes or just turned up with buns to sell, it was a fantastic team effort. But the biggest thank you has to go to all the villagers who attended in such great numbers and dug into their pockets and purses so generously. “