Olivia Williams Shares Her Intense Battle with Pancreatic Cancer and Misdiagnoses

Olivia Williams shared her distressing ordeal with pancreatic cancer, detailing a lengthy period of incorrect diagnoses and being ignored by medical professionals. The classically trained British actress is now advocating for Pancreatic Cancer UK, the designated charity for the upcoming TCS London Marathon. She is campaigning for an affordable diagnostic test that could identify the illness much earlier.

In a recent conversation with The Times U.K., the actress from The Crown talked about her battle with VIPoma—a rare neuroendocrine tumor in the pancreas found in only one in a million people each year. Pancreatic cancer, known for its low survival rates, is often caught too late.

Williams recounted first noticing symptoms ten years ago, which led her on a four-year quest, consulting with ten doctors across three countries to determine the cause of her ailment. She was incorrectly diagnosed with lupus, perimenopause, and other cancers. It wasn’t until she saw a persistent gastroenterologist in Los Angeles who decided to test for an unusual hormone and ordered a CT scan and a biopsy that her cancer was finally identified.

“If someone had just diagnosed me properly during the four years I kept saying I was sick—when they claimed I was going through menopause, had irritable bowel syndrome, or was just crazy—I was even referred for a psychiatric evaluation. If they had figured it out, one surgery might have resolved it all, allowing me to be cancer-free, which now I can never claim,” stated the star of Dune: Prophecy.

Since her diagnosis, Williams has undergone multiple surgeries to remove the tumor and parts of her pancreas, spleen, gallbladder, and liver. Unfortunately, by then, the cancer had spread.

“The cancer keeps resurfacing,” she explained. “It feels like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole with each new occurrence.”

Williams, also known for her roles in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense, continues her treatment regimen, which includes medication to slow the cancer’s growth and regular scans. She undergoes targeted internal radiotherapy, a process she describes vividly: “People in hazmat suits deliver radioactive material in a lead box, inject it into me, and then I have to isolate completely for two weeks because I become radioactive.”

“This treatment is expected to give me a few years without further treatment. Ideally, it would eliminate the metastases, but that hasn’t happened,” she shared.

While acknowledging it’s too late for her, Williams urges those over 40 to be proactive about their health. She emphasized, “I get emotional about this, but I’m not seeking sympathy. What I really want is a cost-effective, early detection test.”