United Kingdom Lung Cancer Coalition

Faces of Lung Cancer

Donald - Cardiff

Donald (51), a Scotsman living in Cardiff, was diagnosed with lung cancer eight years ago. “I am in a very tiny minority. Most people with lung cancer don’t live beyond six months.”

Donald visited his GP twice in six months with severe shooting pains down his left arm. On both occasions he was sent for physiotherapy for a trapped nerve. “It was a correct diagnosis on the face of it,” said Donald. “But the nerve was actually trapped by a huge tumour on the outside of my left lung. The physio was all rather pointless.”

“Once I was finally diagnosed, I was told my condition was terminal and inoperable and was given three months to live. I had two choices: lay down and die, or just get on with it. I didn’t fancy the first option.”

“I was determined after the initial shock that my life should be as normal as possible. My wife and I decided that the best way for me to return to normality was to get straight back to work. “

In the last eight years, despite treatment for tumours on both lungs and surgery to remove brain cancer, Donald has only taken four weeks off work.
His career has gone from strength to strength at the general insurance brokers where he’s been employed for the last 10 years. He is now the managing director.

Donald has clearly defied medical science and believes more should be done to raise people’s awareness of the disease and more research money invested.

“Above all, I want to give people with lung cancer hope."

Judith - Cambridgeshire

Judith from Cambridgeshire was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2004 when she was just 37 years old. Judith has never smoked and has no history of lung cancer in her family. She is married with two children, Samuel (10) and Sophie (13).

Judith’s devastating story began when she developed a cold on the May Bank Holiday in 2004.

“I had what I thought was a normal cold so we’d delayed our family day outing until the Bank Holiday Monday when I was feeling a bit better.”

By the end of the following week, Judith’s cold had turned into a cough which wouldn’t go away, so she went to her doctor’s a few weeks later who prescribed her a course of antibiotics.

“The antibiotics didn’t get rid of my silly cough, so I went back to the surgery and my doctor gave me steroids and an asthma inhaler which seemed to do the trick but I was sent for a chest x-ray at my local cottage hospital just to be on the safe side. “

Judith was also booked in for routine lung function tests.

“I remember feeling absolutely fine as I cycled down to my surgery When I arrived, I was told the tests couldn’t go ahead because the x-ray had shown that my lung had collapsed.”

Judith was referred to her local chest physician for further investigation.

“I was told that I was a young, relatively fit person who had never smoked – it was unlikely to be anything sinister.”

Sadly on 4th August 2004, after two bronchoscopies, Judith was informed that she had a large malignant tumour on her left lung.

“We were in total shock as a family but we had great hope that the cancer had not spread and they could just remove my lung.”

Unfortunately, three weeks later, Judith was broken the news that the cancer had spread to her bones and was given just one year to live.

Thankfully, nearly two years on, Judith is well and receiving treatment to prolong her life.

“We have gone through a real period of readjustment but we are getting on with things as a family. You don’t think something like this can happen to you – but when it does, you just have to be positive for the children’s sake.”
Judith and her family have encountered the stigma attached to lung cancer, despite Judith never having touched a cigarette.

“When my husband tells people I have lung cancer, they immediately assume I’m a smoker. In fact, it’s not just old men who chain-smoke who get lung cancer.”

Lin - Birmingham

Lin (57) was diagnosed with lung cancer in March 2001.

“I’d been poorly with the flu just before Christmas 2000 but I was still wheezing well into the New Year and people kept commenting on my breathlessness. I was a self-employed courier and my customers could hear me coming up their garden paths!”

“One morning in February I coughed up blood. I was shocked and went straight to my doctor.”

Lin was sent for a chest x-ray at Solihull General Hospital but, apart from her wheezing, she didn’t think there was anything wrong with her.

“I received a letter from the hospital saying I needed an emergency CT scan. I rang the hospital and said they must have made a mistake. They hadn’t. The scan showed my lung had collapsed and behind it was a hidden tumour. It was a terrible shock.”

Unable to remove the tumour by surgery, Lin received six cycles of chemotherapy and then started radiotherapy in December 2001, which unfortunately ‘knocked her for six’ and she had to go into hospital.

Despite all this, Lin remained positive. “I used to talk to my cancer and tell it to go away. You have to be stronger than the tumour. I couldn’t let it get to me – I had a husband and three children. They had to come first.”

Lin has thankfully been in remission since her radiotherapy. “They detected my cancer early so it gave me a better chance. You really can survive lung cancer.”

Yvonne - Exmouth

Ex-nurse, Yvonne Matthews (70) was diagnosed with lung cancer this year. She stopped smoking nearly a decade ago.

Yvonne’s cancer was operable and has undergone successful surgery to remove part of her lung. “I really am one of the lucky ones but I have a history of lung cancer in my family so I am not off the hook yet.” Yvonne lost both her parents to lung cancer.

Yvonne is back where she works at a local house to support young adults with learning difficulties and is determined to live as normal a life as possible. Despite her illness, her grandson is a smoker and her grand-daughter started smoking when she was 14 – but, due to her grandmother’s illness, has now stopped.

“I don’t think there’s enough help for smokers. I started smoking 40 years ago as a young nurse when everyone smoked in the medical profession. Now I have become one of those terrible anti-smokers – but I really sympathise with people who can’t stop. I know I tried everything before I actually kicked the habit.”

Yvonne feels there is a positive message to lung cancer and there is hope for people. “I’ve been a shock to people. They had me on a death list. But I am alive and feeling well. It’s important to tell people that you can survive and extend your life if you catch the disease early enough.”

Joanne – York

American-born, Joanne Smith (76) developed ‘the worst cough I’ve ever had’ while visiting her brother in southern Florida in March 2005.

On returning to England, Joanne was diagnosed with pneumonia, but her condition worsened and her daughter, who is a doctor, insisted she go back to her GP. After a second chest x-ray, Joanne underwent a biopsy and was finally given the diagnosis of lung cancer. She was told it was ‘inoperable but could be treated’.

“I know it seems strange but when I received the diagnosis I was actually thrilled. I think it was relief that my condition had finally been diagnosed.”

Joanne, an English and drama teacher, has travelled the world with her retired Army Major husband. She never considered herself a smoker.

“Our life abroad in the British Army was full of parties and social engagements. When we lived in Singapore and everybody smoked cigarettes. I used to smoke socially at parties but haven’t touched a cigarette since 1980. We have no history of cancer in our family. So my diagnosis came out of the blue, totally.”

Despite her condition, Joanne has not lost her ‘joie de vivre.’ A governor for the local school, member of the Inner Wheel of York, a volunteer tour guide for the City of York, and a lecturer for charity on life as a British Army wife, her social diary is extremely full. She has four children and six grandchildren.

“Sometimes I think I’m a little too positive,” says Joanne with her soft American accent. When she’s feeling fully well, Joanne is planning to get back to the active life she leads.

Wilma – Leeds

Wilma Kennedy (45) never imagined that lung cancer was something she would have to worry about. She had never smoked, worked in a smoky atmosphere and had never been a regular pub or bar–goer. Yet in November 2005 she was diagnosed with brain cancer and tumours in both of her lungs.

Wilma takes up the story. “It was September in 2005, I had been suffering headaches and my speech had started to slur, so I went to see my GP. They immediately sent me to hospital for tests. A CAT Scan revealed a tumour on my brain and it was highly likely that the cancer had started elsewhere.”

After eight weeks of hospital tests and biopsies taken from both lungs, it was confirmed that Wilma had a rare form of lung cancer.

“It was hard to believe that I had lung cancer – or that I was ill at all. I had no problem with my breathing. Headaches and slurred speech were my only outward symptoms. I kept thinking this isn’t really happening to me - but I was told that I may only have two months to live.”

It was only during the 2 month course of chemotherapy at the end of 2005 that Wilma began to feel unwell. As Christmas approached, and with the distinct possibility that it could be her last, Wilma and her partner of six years, Jim, went and got married in Scotland.

“The chemo took a lot out of me and it wasn’t really working. I was then very lucky to be put on a new drug (Erlotinib) which had an immediate impact. Two months after taking the drug my tumours began to disappear.”

Wilma now appears to have complete resolution of her cancers.

“I am so lucky that I am still here a year on, and especially lucky since this is my second experience of cancer.” Wilma was diagnosed and cured of ovarian and cervical cancer at the age of 29.

“I am a positive person and enjoy every day of my life – even more so now. I have been given a tremendous opportunity and it does show that there is hope for lung cancer sufferers.”