Yinka Sowemimo-Coker, a 65-year-old solicitor from London, experienced a dramatic weight loss from size 20 to size 6 before being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest common cancers. Despite being given a 3% chance of survival, she is now in remission after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy.
Eight Months of Misdiagnoses
In April 2018, Yinka first noticed something was wrong when she was sweating profusely while climbing stairs at a work event. She also experienced sudden back and stomach pain. Over the next eight months, she was admitted to hospital four times. Doctors initially diagnosed her with anaemia and then a virus. Surface-level blood tests and a colonoscopy showed no abnormalities, so she received only blood transfusions and intravenous paracetamol.
“I was always going to the hospital and they were discarding me,” Yinka told PA Real Life. “I felt unseen. I felt unheard. Sometimes I was even thinking, am I sure there’s something wrong with me? I started to second guess myself. And all that time, something was really wrong.”
Critical Condition and Correct Diagnosis
By January 2019, Yinka was jaundiced, could not walk properly, and had a fever over 40C. A doctor friend from church urged her to go to King’s College Hospital. There, she overheard a doctor say her “systems (were) shutting down.” During a three-week admission, she underwent MRI, X-ray, PET scan, and CT scan, finally confirming pancreatic cancer. She was told she had a 3% chance of survival.
Pancreatic Cancer UK states that half of all people diagnosed die within three months, as symptoms are vague and diagnosis often comes too late.
Treatment and Remission
Yinka qualified for a 12-hour surgery called irreversible electroporation, which uses electrical currents to destroy cancer cells. Her surgeon said, “Left any later, surgery would have been impossible.” She then had six months of maximum-dose chemotherapy through a clinical trial. By the end of 2019, no cancer was detected. She has had two full check-ups every year since, and despite a scare with suspected bowel cancer in 2025, she remains cancer-free.
Charity Work
In 2021, Yinka founded DChanger UK, a charity that provides personalized support, befriending, and counselling for cancer patients. “I have used my own lived experience to support my community. I’ve been able to advocate for them,” she said. Reflecting on her journey, she added: “For now, all I can do is pray and remain positive. I am already so grateful that I am still here to tell my story.”
Pancreatic Cancer UK is urging support for its ‘Demand Survival Now’ campaign.
