Page 9 - Inspire Magazine 2019
P. 9

Amanda Sands is a 50-year-old woman who is living with stage 4
                                    lung cancer.


                                    A GP in the army,  Amanda recognises there is still a lack of
                                    awareness around lung cancer and who it can affect both amongst
                                    the public and healthcare professionals.


                                    “GPs haven’t really heard of my type of lung cancer. I am ALK Positive and
                                    none of my colleagues have heard of that type.

                                    It started in the summer. I had a cough and felt tight-chested. I just thought it
                                    was pollen-related. But over the next six weeks my cough developed,
                                    and I had real diffi culty walking uphill without getting short of breath, which
                                    was unusual for me.
 “PEOPLE STILL THINK THAT LUNG CANCER IS   I went back to the GP and said I wanted a chest x-ray. That came back


                                    abnormal, so I said I wanted an urgent CT scan. That too was abnormal and I
 ONLY FOUND IN PEOPLE WHO ARE OLDER AND   was referred to a respiratory doctor.


                                    There was an outside chance that it could be lung cancer but, because of my
 WHO HAVE A HISTORY OF SMOKING. ”   age and the fact that I’d never smoked, that’s all it was – an outside chance.


                                    Despite the ‘odds’ a biopsy confi rmed my diagnosis. I was shocked.
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