Two-fifths of patients with pancreatic cancer are not prescribed drugs recommended to improve their lives, a charity has warned.
Lack of awareness of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) means they are not offered it.
Without them, eating can be painful, leading to loss of appetite and weight loss.
The Welsh Government said it expects PERT to be offered in line with professional guidance.
Half of people with the disease die within three months of diagnosis, according to Pancreatic Cancer UK.
Only 5.7% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in Wales survive five years.
Hannah Davies, from Knighton in Powys, lost her husband Mark to the disease in 2020.
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“Mark was a healthy 40-year-old man,” said the 38-year-old.
“He’s been a very, very hands-on father to our two boys, Freddie and Rupert.
“He was a wonderful husband. Very lucky we found each other in life.”
In March 2020, Mark began suffering from stomach pains, fatigue and loss of appetite.
Between April and June, he called a doctor 19 times about his symptoms.
In July he was hospitalized.
A scan and biopsy confirmed he had pancreatic cancer.
“He confirmed that due to the size of the tumor he was inoperable and would also be incurable,” Ms Davies said.
Pancreatic cancer makes eating painful because enzymes made by the pancreas to help us digest don’t reach the intestines.
PERT solves this by replacing these missing enzymes.
The change when it was first given to Mark was “amazing”.
Ms Davies said: “I remember he had cheese on toast, plain.
“This was a true foodie who really loved his food.
“But seeing him sitting there and eating some cheese on toast, and he was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s great, I can eat that’.”
“It gave us memories of being able to eat together as a family that we never would have had if he wasn’t on PERT meds.”
Although it only costs £7 a day, only 63% of pancreatic cancer patients in Wales are prescribed PERT, according to Pancreatic Cancer UK.
Anna Jewell, from the charity, said: “There really seems to be an awareness that these tablets need to be made available to people with pancreatic cancer and an awareness and understanding that they will be very malnourished and unable to take treatment if they don’t get access to those tablets.”
80% of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are at a stage where life-saving treatment is not possible.
“But here we have something really simple,” Ms Jewell said.
“A simple pill that is available, that is inexpensive, that can really make a difference, a significant difference in the quality of life of people when they have been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
“That’s why it’s just so important that we get these pills out to the people.”
Keith Roberts, head of the Royal College of Surgeons for pancreatic cancer, published a study in 2018 comparing patients with PERT with those without PERT.
“It didn’t matter what scenario it was,” he said.
“If you look at people who have surgery, people who have chemotherapy, people who didn’t get any treatment at all, survival was pretty much twice as long in the group that received PERT.”
Without them, patients were at risk of losing muscle mass and wasting away.
“If you’re not getting the good out of your food, how are you going to survive the treatment and how are you going to fight this cancer?” said Mr. Roberts.
The Welsh Government said health authorities and trusts should provide PERT in line with guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and as agreed by the NHS in Wales.
“The Wales Cancer Network has also raised awareness of the importance of PERT prescribing,” said a spokesperson.
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