Calls for more support for lung cancer patients

A Belmont grandmother waited almost a year to be told she had stage four cancer, and was misdiagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis along the way.

Belmont grandmother Jenny Pickering says it took 10 months to be diagnosed with lung cancer after she first visited her doctor at the start of 2021.

Mrs Pickering, 67, was finally diagnosed with stage four lung cancer late last year.

She had initially visited a doctor because she had swollen legs and hands.

She said she underwent multiple tests, saw a number of doctors, and was misdiagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

Jenny Pickering has lung cancer. Picture: Mark Wilson

It took about 10 months for her to be sent for the CT scan that revealed the incurable cancer, after she mentioned the slight cough she had developed to a specialist.

“That’s one of the things I was upset about, I wasn’t given the opportunity to be scanned,” Mrs Pickering said.

“I just think it should be standard procedure.

“I’ve had fabulous care since I was diagnosed but getting to that point is a real issue.”

Mrs Pickering has immunotherapy and chemotherapy every three weeks and said she had been told she would undergo these treatments for the rest of her life.

“Some days I feel fantastic and other days I feel terrible,” she said.

Jenny Pickering with daughter Kasey Jarman, husband Darryl Pickering and daughter Bree Plunkett. Picture: Mark Wilson

Lung Foundation Australia is calling on the nation’s decision makers to adopt key reforms to address the systemic gaps in lung cancer prevention, diagnosis and prognosis.

Lung cancer is Australia’s leading cause of cancer death,and the country’s fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer.

A new report outlines three urgent interventions the foundation says must be funded by federal government to turn the tide on lung cancer:

A NATIONAL screening program in the upcoming budget which could save 12,000 lives over 10 years;

BETTER support for lung cancer survivors as 50 per cent were dealing with anxiety, distress, and/or depression; and,

INVESTMENT in 100 specialist lung cancer nurses by 2025 to care for the 22,800

Australians living with lung cancer (up from the 37 in place currently caring for 616 each).

According to The Next Breath: Accelerating Lung Cancer Reform in Australia 2022-2025 report, developed in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Geelong had two specialist lung cancer nurses.

Lung Foundation Australia chief executive Mark Brooke said despite incredible scientific advancements and significant new treatments now available, it was devastating to see, that four years on from their first report of this kind released in 2018, improvements in lung cancer care across the country were limited.

“Those with lung cancer continue to face significant challenges at every stage of their disease, many of which we can assist with if we make critical changes now,” Mr Brooke said.

“It hasn’t been good enough, but we have faiththat this new government will not leave those with lung cancer behind.”

Mrs Pickering said lung cancer “absolutely” needed more support.

“For some reason even though lung cancer is the greatest life taker it’s just fallen behind, we don’t seem to be taking it nearly as seriously,” she said.

“In a country as good as Australia with all these incredible things we have, screening just seems such a small thing to ask for.”

Originally published as Calls for more support for lung cancer patients