Nick Whitehead from Newton Aycliffe is lucky to be here. Seven years on from being diagnosed with lung cancer, Nick remains cancer free. But things could have been very different.
Nick had visited his GP on several occasions for various reasons – back pain, night sweats and finger clubbing – over an 18-month period. During several visits, Nick mentioned that he was also suffering with a persistent cough. Each time, he was told it was just a smoker’s cough.
However, whilst Nick was working away, he coughed up some blood and ended up in A&E.
“The cough hadn’t really worried me until then,” Nick recalls. “I’d had it that long – about two years – at this point, so I think I’d just got used to it. I was still smoking at the time, so being told it was a smoker’s cough made sense. My wife, however, was more concerned and I guess she was right to be.”
Nick’s trip to A&E marked the start of his diagnosis – stage 3b lung cancer. He was initially given just a 50% chance of surviving for five years. Fortunately, and in spite of the significant delays he faced, Nick underwent surgery and chemotherapy and is now cancer-free.
“Looking back on my diagnosis,” Nick continues, “I can see that there were many missed opportunities to be diagnosed earlier. We’re constantly told that a persistent cough is a sign of lung cancer so it’s odd that I wasn’t sent for an x-ray at the very least. Did being labelled a ‘smoker’ impact this inaction? I don’t know.
“I think I wasn’t sent for tests because I was so fit. As a scuba diver, my lung capacity is good, so I wasn’t having any shortness of breath. I think this is why it was just put down to just a smoker’s cough.”
Whilst Nick doesn’t lay any blame, he wanted to share his story as part of Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation’s Let Go of the Labels campaign to stop others from enduring similar delays.
“It’s time we stop thinking about lung cancer in terms of smoking or non-smoking,” Nick concludes “because it’s clearly having an impact on how long it’s taking people to get diagnosed. I hit all the warning signs – I had smoked for decades. I had a persistent cough. I had back pain and clubbing of the fingers. But I was never sent for an x-ray. Surely this suggests we need a new approach because there are thousands of people who aren’t as lucky as I was.”
Inspired by Nick’s story, and the many others like it, Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation has launched its Let Go of the Labels campaign for lung cancer awareness month, calling for a stop to terms like smoker and never-smoker.
“Lung cancer is still so intrinsically linked to smoking,” explains Paula Chadwick, chief executive of Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, “but the reality is anyone can get this disease, regardless of if they have smoked or not. The more people we spoke to, the more we recognised that labels like smoker and non-smoker were having a direct impact on how quickly people were being diagnosed. That is why we are calling for a stop to these archaic labels. Lung cancer doesn’t see them, and neither should we.”
For more information about the Let Go of the Labels campaign, or if you are concerned about symptoms, please visit: roycastle.org