Page 4 - Inspire Magazine

Bill is far from alone in his situation; many One minute you’ve been given a death sentence, the
people with early-stage lung cancer don’t feel next you’re getting a reprieve - and it comes out in
particularly ill or, if they do experience two sentences!
symptoms, they are dismissed as something
less severe. The whole process, from the initial breath tests to
having the operation and getting out of hospital, took
As a result, almost three quarters of people about six weeks.
with lung cancer are diagnosed at late-stage.
You’re operated on and a couple of days later you
Advances in treatments mean people are can go home – you’re fi xed, you’re mended, you feel
living well with lung cancer for longer but, to great! The doctor has said it’s given me ten more
increase the chances of curative treatment, years of my life.
we need to ensure more people are diagnosed
early - like Bill. I can now look forward to spending it with my wife
and seeing my son and, if he has children, I’ll be able
But how do you get ahead of a disease which is to see them, my grandchildren, because I’ve got
clever and sly, and whose symptoms are either everything to live for, everything to look forward to.
vague or non-existent?
These mobile scanners should be in every major
You scan people… city. I’ve only seen one in my life - and that’s the one
that saved me.
“I had a call from a nurse inviting me to a health
check and I thought I may as well go. That’s the big thing - if they fi nd it, you can be fi xed.
People just need to be given the same chance as me.”
At the initial appointment, I was told I needed a CT
scan and then a PET scan. That was when I was told – We couldn’t agree more, Bill! That’s why we
you have lung cancer. However, it’s localised, it’s a very launched our #LetsRoll campaign, calling for
small amount and it hasn’t spread. the government to roll out a national lung
health check programme because we know,
from our Nottingham project and other
similar programmes, it would save lives. >
Our Nottingham project

GP practices 1020
Patient criteria: men and women
aged 60-75 with a smoking
history in the last fi ve years.
eligible patients: 25% attended the initial health check.

The health check involved a medical and smoking history and pulmonary function test to generate
a person’s lung cancer risk score. Smoking cessation advice was also provided if required.

eligible for 97% 6 scanning days
52% CT scan attended 2 thoracic radiologists

The results • 5 cancers detected – 2 early-stage and 3 late-stage.
• Further 8% had nodules on their lungs and now receive regular monitoring.
• PLUS 16 cases of COPD, 1 tuberculosis, 1 interstitial lung disease,
2 bronchiectasis, 1 emphysema, 2 coronary heart calcifi cation and
1 asbestos-related pleural thickening.

Donations from people like you now mean we can fund the next phase of
the project to a population of 36,000 people.