Mick Murray says while it might be a cliched thing to say, after being given a two to three per cent chance of surviving a pancreatic cancer diagnosis, “you really do value every day”.
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In 2019, high blood pressure prompted the father of four and grandfather of seven to overhaul his lifestyle, where he took up regular walking, which soon morphed into running.
After half a decade of better health, one day in February 2025, he noticed a change in his urine.
“So I made a doctor’s appointment, which men don’t normally do,” Mick said.
He couldn’t get in sooner than the following Monday and, over the weekend, his symptoms deteriorated quickly as his skin began to yellow with jaundice.
The doctor ordered an ultrasound, then a CT scan, and by Wednesday the following week his illness had escalated to an admission into GV Health’s emergency ward.
The next day, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
“So it was a bit of a shock hearing that; I just assumed a (kidney) stone or something like that,” he said.
“They had a look at it and ... I was transported to the Austin (Health).”
There, Mick underwent multiple minor surgeries before a major surgery.
First, surgeons unblocked his bile duct and implanted a titanium stent, then a team of 16 working in rotation performed a Whipple procedure to remove a tumour, part of his pancreas, part of his stomach, part of his small intestine and his gallbladder.
“While they were there, they took 31 glands out at the same time,” Mick said.
“And that was a 12.5-hour operation.”
While he’d taken a massive hit physically, Mick’s mental health also began to fall apart, particularly after the itch from bilirubins had kept him sleepless for the better part of three weeks.
“I was quite depressed ... I couldn’t sleep, and I was just beside myself,” he said.
Taking inspiration from former Essendon Football Club captain Dyson Heppell’s young friend, Harrison ‘H-Man’ Pennicott, who suffers a rare, chronic autoimmune disease called Scleroderma, while watching an episode of The Front Bar while he was recovering, Mick had an epiphany.
“He had a smile on his face; he was just taking on everything,” he said.
“I’m like, what am I doing? I’m 56 and sort of looking at the glass half empty all the time and I just changed my thought process around and went and really had a crack at all this ... it’s been the best thing for me.”
When he returned to Shepparton early in May last year, he embarked on 12 taxing rounds of chemotherapy at GV Health’s Peter Copulos Health and Wellness Centre.
While it knocked him around a bit, he was grateful he and his wife, Robyn, were no longer displaced in Melbourne for his treatment.
“Every fortnight I’d have five hours in oncology and then they’d put a pump on me for two days afterwards,” Mick said.
“They gave me a fair dose; I just happened to get a rare and aggressive pancreatic cancer.”
Sadly, his youngest daughter, Sarah, 25, received her own cancer diagnosis at the same time.
“Because my immunity was so low, I couldn’t get up there, so she had to tackle that by herself,” Mick said.
Sarah had her thyroid out and will be on medication for the rest of her life, but thankfully survived her battle.
Mick and Robyn have since been to visit their daughter, who is now well again.
Mick’s illness saw him off work for six months, but he got straight back to pounding the pavement as soon as he felt fit enough.
He began heavily training for a half marathon at the recent Gold Coast Marathon, but was struck down with another condition called polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), which attacks the joints.
It saw his campaign end.
After balancing medication made challenging by a compromised pancreas, his PMR is now under control and Mick has refocused his sights on running his first half marathon at home, at this year’s Shepparton Running Festival.
“I was really looking forward to doing the Gold Coast half marathon, and then when this one came up, I thought, this ticks all the boxes as far as raising awareness for the cancer centre,” Mick said.
“Talking to the girls at oncology (at GV Health), they’ve got a team together, so I’ve joined the team and happy to support them and to fundraise.”
Mick said despite running up Dookie’s Mt Major weekly, his attempt “is not going to be pretty”.
“I’m not going to be running, it’ll be an old man jog,” he laughed.
With no sights set on a time, Mick said he’ll be content with completing the course and spreading the word.
“The main thing I’ve done since this all happened is to tell blokes to check themselves and don’t wait for their wives or girlfriends or whoever it might be to ring a doctor and make an appointment,” he said.
“Do it yourself, you know, we’re all big boys, we can do it.”
The Campbell’s Shepparton Running Festival will be held on August 15 and 16. To register, visit shepparton.run
To fundraise for the I Care for Cancer Care appeal as a runner in the event, email GVHealthFoundation@gvhealth.org.au
To sponsor GV Health’s I Care for Cancer Care running team, visit tinyurl.com/2na6u8by
To volunteer at the Shepparton Running Festival, email GVHealthFoundation@gvhealth.org.au
Support GV Health Foundation’s fundraising appeal
The GV Health Foundation is calling on individuals, businesses and community groups to donate to its $5 million I Care for Cancer Care @ GV Health fundraising appeal to help bring first-class cancer care to the Goulburn Valley.
Donations can be made via the foundation’s website.
Community members interested in the various opportunities to contribute to and support the appeal can contact Amy De Paola via email at amy.depaola@gvhealth.org.au