Our CEO Paula Chadwick joined Safeer Zartasht and Tahir Khalid on Tuesday’s Voice of Islam drive time radio show to discuss lung cancer awareness month. They talked about the signs and symptoms of lung cancer, lack of awareness and education and the stigma surrounding lung cancer within the Asian community.
Each year there are 46,000 new cases of lung cancer diagnosed and unfortunately, in many cases, it is diagnosed at a late stage.
Signs and symptoms
Paula said that the awareness of signs and symptoms is crucial so that people with lung cancer can receive an early diagnosis and can receive the best treatment options.
Many GPs treat symptoms such as tiredness and a persistent cough with antibiotics. Paula encouraged those who still having symptoms to keep going back to the doctors.
“You know your own body, if you have a specific symptom that keeps coming back, such as a cough lasting for longer than three weeks, you are well within your rights to go back to your GP. It is better to get is diagnosed as early as possible”
Addressing the stigma
Lung cancer does not discriminate. It does not care where you are from. It does not care how old you are. If you have lungs there is a possibility you can get lung cancer. We have to get over this belief that lung cancer is just a smoker’s disease
Paula Chadwick – CEO
In fact, over 28% of people diagnosed each year have no history of smoking.
“We want to encourage people to talk about it and not feel guilty. Nobody deserves lung cancer.”
“If you have an experience with lung cancer and want to share your story with us, please do get in touch, then we can share this with the wider community and raise awareness that the disease can affect anyone.”
You can listen to the interview below. If you are interested in sharing your story with us, please get in touch here.