Brisbane mum puts focus on lung cancer research

In 2017 Brisbane mum Alison Botlon was a fit, healthy, mother of four young boys, then she got a shocking diagnosis.

Alison and Alan Bolton with three of their sons. Photo: Supplied

Brisbane mum Alison Bolton carries the heaviest of hearts.

In Canberra today to fight for funding to improve survival rates and treatment for lung cancer patients she knows much has to be changed about the way people view lung cancer.

In 2017 she was a fit, 47-year-old mother of four.

She ran and even sometimes competed in triathlons but at some point she began to hear a wheezing noise in her lungs.

For months she heard it when she ran, then it started to get worse and a pain developed in her chest when she lay down.

“While I was being treated for asthma I knew there was something else ..... something not good,” she said.

It was then she asked for a CT scan which revealed the worst, she - a non-smoker with no family history - had stage III lung cancer.

Almost three years on, she has travelled to Canberra today to ask the Federal Government to turn its attention to increasing funding and research into lung cancer.

“In the room today, all of us representing lung cancer patients are a group of young people,” she said.

“We are not the people you would think would get lung cancer. We are non smokers, we have no risk factors and I think most of us have the experience of the diagnosis coming out of the blue.

“There was just a whole lot of disbelief.”

Alison and Alan Bolton with their twins. Photo. Supplied.

Speaking in front of Federal Minister for Health Greg Hunt, Ms Bolton said one of the greatest changes needed was for people to understand that “anyone with lungs can get lung cancer”.

Second to this was the desperate need for more funding for research and treatments.

“I am eternally grateful to the researchers who developed my treatment because for me it has made such a difference,” she said.

“I can do everyday things. I can look after my kids, I am a wife at home and I still exercise, although not to the same extent as before my diagnosis but I try to keep moving.”

Ms Bolton said her current targeted therapy was a life long treatment because of the type of cancer mutation she has.

“I feel really lucky to be on this type of treatment,” she said.

The dark side of her treatment is knowing that one day, because of the type of mutation, her cancer will return and for this reason she is fully aware of how important research into future treatments is.

With 7-year-old twin boys, a 13-year-old son and 23-year-old son, she said it was hard to “bare the concept” that she would always be on treatment.

“A lot of days are good because I can be present but I have doubts and worries if the treatment is going to work in the future,” she said.

“That is why research funding so important.”

“Compared with other cancers, lung cancer only gets five per cent of the funding yet it is the biggest killer in Australia - it is like it is almost accepted you just have to die”

“The biggest thing for me is to know that research is being done so that there will be other targeted therapies available.

“They are making more discoveries and understanding how they look at specific types of genetic mutations and modify treatments to suit those markers ..... that is the thing that gives me hope .... that there is research so that I have something to go on in the future.”

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Alison Bolton with twin sons Lachlan and William in 2017. Photo: supplied

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Lung Foundation Australia CEO Mark Brooke said a “strong, continued and concerted effort is necessary if we are to truly make inroads in lung cancer, a disease which has been historically massively under-funded”.

“Chiefly, we’re asking for a commitment to increase lung cancer specialist nurses – an additional 25 are needed right away – owing to the systemically few currently in operation in this country,” Mr Brooke said.

“Lung cancer specialist nurses provide the specialist support, treatment, and understanding required to optimally manage those living with lung cancer.”

“While we remain grateful of the leadership Minister Hunt has already shown, and we know will continue to show, intervention in the 2020/2021 budget is needed now more than ever to make a difference to the lives of those who are diagnosed with Australia’s biggest cancer killer.”

Ms Bolton said lung cancer patients needed the same nursing support provided to breast cancer patients.

Alison Bolton is raising awareness of critical funding shortages for lung cancer patients. Photo. supplied.

Mr Brooke said less than half of those diagnosed with lung cancer were treated “via multidisciplinary teams despite proven links to better quality care and survival outcomes”.

He said with the five-year survival rate at just 16.2 per cent there was an urgent need to address the “chronically below par” funding.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Australia, accounting for one in five cancer deaths, and highest proportion of cancer burden in 2017.

Symptoms of Lung Cancer

• cough
• fatigue
• voice hoarseness
• coughing up blood
• chest pain

Source: Lung Foundation Australia