Former England football manager Sven-Göran Eriksson has died aged 76 after becoming terminally ill with pancreatic cancer.
The Swedish legend — who said in January he had ‘best case a year’ to live after his diagnosis — was the first overseas boss to lead the England national team in 2001.
He led the talented squad to quarter-finals of the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, and at the 2004 European Championships.
Last week Eriksson issued a poignant public farewell in a new Amazon Prime Video documentary SVEN looking back at his life and career.
A larger-than-life character, worries about his health first surfaced when he resigned from his sporting director position at Swedish club Karlstad in February 2023.
Here, we reveal the devastating decline that saw Göran Eriksson go from a sudden collapse to unwell to terminally ill in less than two years.
Former England football manager Sven-Göran Eriksson has died aged 76 after becoming terminally ill with pancreatic cancer. The Swedish legend — who said in January he had ‘best case a year’ to live after his diagnosis — was the first overseas boss to lead the England national team in 2001
Currently, the majority of 10,500 people diagnosed with the disease each year in the UK die within three months. Part of the problem is that it’s often spotted too late. Knowing the subtle early symptoms of pancreatic cancer — including changes in toilet habits — could play a crucial role in boosting survival, say experts
His two children told the documentary that the gravity of their dad’s condition emerged in the hospital after he suddenly collapsed during a 5km run last year.
‘I had 10 missed calls from my sister, “dad’s in the emergency room”,’ his son Johan Eriksson said.
‘”He’s not in a good way.” You can kind of tell when the doctor’s in tears that’s… not good. Worst possible news.
‘We found out that he had had five strokes and then you go into a state of fear. A panic mode,’ Sven’s daughter Lina Eriksson added.
Recalling his diagnosis, in January Eriksson also revealed: ‘I thought I was fully healthy but suddenly I had a small stroke so I fell and my children took me to the hospital.
‘After one day of examination they told me I had five small strokes, but said “no problem, you will recover 100 per cent from that”.
‘But worse is they said I have cancer which they can’t operate on.
‘They said they will give me treatment and medicine to try and live as long as possible. I have that diagnosis and they can’t operate, unfortunately.’
Currently, the majority of 10,500 people diagnosed with the disease each year in the UK die within three months. Part of the problem is that it’s often spotted too late.
Knowing the subtle early symptoms of pancreatic cancer — including changes in toilet habits — could play a crucial role in boosting survival, say experts.
Here, MailOnline shares the ‘hidden’ warning signs of the disease, often dubbed a ‘silent killer’.
Sven-Goran Eriksson with his partner Yaniseth Alcides in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 22
Sven-Goran Eriksson speaks to captain David Beckham during Euro 2004 in Lisbon, Portugal
Indigestion
Tumours that grow in certain parts of the pancreas can press on other organs and nerves in the body, causing pain in the stomach area.
Patients describe it as a ‘dull’ pain that feels like it is ‘boring into you’ with it typically appearing at the top part of the tummy area.
This pain can also result if a tumour blocks the digestive tract. Pain may come and go at first but will become more constant as the disease progresses.
It can feel worse when lying down or after eating but may be alleviated by sitting forward.
However, it should be noted that pain is only a potential symptom of pancreatic cancer.
Some patients, due to the precise location of their tumour, never experience pain at all.
New onset diabetes
Some people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are also found to be newly diabetic.
Often they have been diagnosed within the previous year.
According to Cancer Research UK this is because the the tumor destroys the insulin-making cells in the pancreas.
Therefore, there is too much sugar in your blood and passes out of the body in the urine.
Symptoms can include feeling thirsty and hungry, and having to urinate often.
More often, cancer can lead to small changes in blood sugar levels that don’t cause symptoms of diabetes but can still be detected with blood tests.
Macmillan Cancer Support, however, also caution that other more common conditions can cause new onset diabetes.
But if you have any symptoms, it is important to get them checked by your doctor.
Jaundice
Jaundice, the yellowing of the skin and eyes, is one of the most common early symptoms of pancreatic cancer.
It’s caused by the build-up of bilirubin, a yellowish-brown substance made by the liver. The liver releases bile, a fluid meant to aid digestion, which contains bilirubin.
In normal liver function, bile moves through ducts into the intestine and helps to break down fats.
However, when bile ducts become blocked, bilirubin builds up, turning the skin and eyes yellow.
In pancreatic cancer, this can occur due to a tumour from the neighbouring pancreas pressing down on the bile duct.
Jaundice only occurs in some early pancreatic cancer patients due to the bile duct becoming blocked if the tumour happens to grow on a certain part of the organ.
Other signs of jaundice include dark urine, light-coloured or greasy stools and itchy skin.
The yellowing of the skin that occurs in jaundice can be harder to spot for people with black or brown skin.
Mid-back pain or discomfort
Another signs is abdominal or back pain, particularly if it starts as a mild discomfort and worsens over time.
This pain is generally persistent and is most often localised to the mid-back, or just below the shoulder blades.
Like stomach pain, if this symptom occurs at all, it can depend on the specific location of tumour.
Some patients only have back pain and not stomach pain, which is, again, linked to the specific shape of their tumour and how it is pressing on other tissues.
According to the American Cancer Society, the cancer may also spread to the nerves surrounding the pancreas, which often causes back pain.
Sven-Goran Eriksson alongside England’s Wayne Rooney at the 2006 World Cup in Germany
Other famous sufferers include Harry Potter star Alan Rickman, who died in January 2016 aged 69. The Professor Snape actor was diagnosed in August the year before after suffering a stroke
Ghost and Dirty Dancing leading man Patrick Swayze was diagnosed in 2007. He passed away in September 2009 at the age of just 57, 20 months after his pancreatic cancer diagnosis
Changes in the way you poo
Unusual changes in bowel movements is a frequently overlooked sign of pancreatic cancer.
This can take the form of either constipation or diarrhoea due to the general upset to the digestive process.
But a specific sign can be changes in stool or urine colour.
One of these is a symptom called steatorrhoea — which means fatty stools.
Sufferers may pass frequent, large bowel motions that are pale coloured and smelly, and are difficult to flush away.
These bowel changes are due to blockages of pancreatic ducts, which are a vital part of the digestive system, and can mean food is not being absorbed properly.
Diarrhoea and constipation are also other possible bowel changes.
Dark urine is another symptom of jaundice, which occurs when a tumor in the pancreas blocks the bile duct, another part of the digestive system.
This causes bilirubin, a waste product from the liver, to build up in the body and pass into the bloodstream, eventually appearing in the urine, turning it dark yellow or orange.
Unexplained weight loss
Pancreatic Cancer Action stresses that awareness of changes in energy levels, pain, and physical appearance can make all the difference in early detection and cure.
Another hidden sign, unexplained weight loss, can occur due to problems with the pancreas, which helps digest food, or from people losing appetite due to other symptoms like pain.
Cancers can sap energy from the body as tumours grow, which can also result in weight loss.
People with unexplained weight loss in combination with other symptoms like pain or change in bowel habits are advised to speak to their GP.
More than 43 per cent of patients first learn they have the disease during an emergency in A&E after having visited their GP’s several times beforehand.
The one cure is surgery and by the time a patient is suffering from the type of pain that warrants a trip to A&E, surgery is likely no longer an option as the cancer will have spread to other areas of the body.
At present, eight in ten patients are diagnosed when surgery is no longer an option — and at least one person every hour dies of pancreatic cancer in UK.
‘Time is of the essence with pancreatic cancer,’ says Joe Kirwin, CEO of Pancreatic Cancer Action.
‘We encourage everyone to trust their instincts and see a healthcare professional if they notice un-usual symptoms, no matter how small they may seem.’
