Dear Editor, Lung Cancer Awareness Month (November) has closed for another year, and with so many other things dominating the news, it’s been hard to get our important message across.
Stigma and misinformation around the disease is killing people.
Research shows only one in four people in the UK are able to name a single symptom of lung cancer and lots of the things people think they know are inaccurate or exaggerated.
Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation has released ‘15 truths about lung cancer in 2025’ in a bid to educate people about a disease that results in the death of someone every 15 minutes.
Lots of people still think if you don’t smoke you won’t get lung cancer, and this myth, along with others, is stigmatizing patients, delaying diagnoses and obstructing access to early care.
Shockingly, 37% of the British public feel less sympathy for people with lung cancer than other types of cancer, which most people do not realise is actually the biggest cancer killer in the UK and kills more people than breast, prostate and pancreatic cancers combined.
That we need to say this is very sad – whoever you are, no one deserves lung cancer, and no one should feel embarrassed or stigma around having the disease.
When lung cancer is caught at the first stage, people who are diagnosed are 20 times more likely to survive for five years.
There are still a couple of our special community engagement events taking place, where anyone who wishes to do so can use Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation’s special Symptom Checker Station. The symptom checker asks a few questions and advises on whether a follow-up with a GP should be arranged. The intention is to empower people to make that appointment, and Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation are here, at these events and others, and over the telephone on our free Helpline, to support people in doing that.
Head to our website www.roycastle.org or call us for free on 0800 358 7200 for more information and support.
Yours sincerely,
Paula Chadwick, Chief Exec at Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.
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