Page 9 - Inspire Magazine 2019

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.
>>