My Story

I've always been close to my mum. About six years ago she fell ill. In hospital, the doctors didn't really know what the problem was, so she was given a whole body scan. It picked up that she had some small nodules on her lungs - all benign and not causing her any of the problems she was experiencing. She had surgery for the gallbladder (the bit that, it turned out, was making her unwell!). The doctors kept monitoring her lungs and life carried on. 

Fast forward a couple of years.  One day, a routine scan showed that the nodules on my mum's lungs had changed. One had become cancerous. As Mum was a non-smoker this was a real shock to us all. Mum had surgery - 25% of her lung was removed - and she made a full recovery.  A couple of years later, another nodule turned and once more Mum had surgery to remove the cancer.

Mum is one of the lucky ones.  She showed no symptoms and if it hadn't been for the excellent doctors who monitored her "just in case", it could have been a very different story.

My mum is still here - wife, daughter, sister, mum, grandma, aunt - but all too often, lung cancer isn't picked up until it's too late and for that reason I am raising money for The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.  They have been successful in initiating a targeted national screening programme and work to raise awareness of lung cancer, and to provide support, for those affected by it.