People, including doctors, need to be better educated. Pat didn’t have any symptoms

Keen golfer Pat Flynn was a fit and healthy man. Trips to the doctor were rare.

But one day, out of the blue, he was diagnosed with a relatively unknown condition – and less than a year later, it killed him.

Pat, from Fauldhouse, West Lothian, was just 52 when he passed away in May last year.

He had liver cancer, caused by haemochromatosis.

The genetic disorder causes the body to absorb too much iron.

Recent research suggests it affects one in 10 women, and one in five men.

Haemochromatosis is the UK’S most common genetic disorder.

The so-called “Celtic Curse” is particularly prominent in Scotland and Ireland. In fact, one in eight Scots is a carrier.

But, bizarrely, most people diagnosed have never heard of it.

Dad-of-two Pat was one such man – and sadly his haemochromatosis wasn’t detected until it was too late.

“Pat’s diagnosis came as a complete shock,” said Lorraine. “He was never sick.”

In September 2016, however, Pat experienced crippling abdominal pain. Lorraine rushed him to A&E.

“The doctors found gallstones and scheduled him in for surgery,” she said.

“But when the day came, he was on the operating table when the surgeon noticed his blood platelets were too low and wanted to reschedule.”

Things settled back down and Pat had the surgery in March the following year.

Little did Lorraine know it was just

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