Woman survives pancreatic cancer after routine heart scan catches early sign: "I feel so lucky"
A 72-year-old woman discovered she had pancreatic cancer after an incidental finding during a routine heart scan. Her story highlights the life-saving potential of early detection, even as pancreatic cancer remains one of the most difficult diseases to treat.
Why it matters
It underscores the importance of medical screening and the ongoing challenges in improving survival rates for aggressive cancers.
Bookstore owner Vicky Titcomb had no reason to suspect anything was out of the ordinary when she went to Mass General Brigham for a heart scan in March 2025. The 72-year-old Cape Cod bookstore owner and great-grandmother felt healthy. The scan was just a routine errand she had to run before traveling to New York City to visit her son. After the test was complete, Titcomb drove to New York. She didn't think about the scan again until she received a call from her internist on the last day of her visit. The doctor had alarming news: There was an abnormality on her pancreas. Further testing would be necessary, but she likely had pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest types of cancer. "I felt like my life just switched in that moment," Titcomb said. "It was a very weird feeling."
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