On March 28th, 2011 I went to see my GP with a nasty cough that just wasn’t shifting. Four days later was the first time a doctor mentioned cancer. I was in my mid-30s and had never smoked… lung cancer just wasn’t something that had even crossed my mind before that day.
Mine was a low-grade, distinct mass so surgery was a good option. Exactly two weeks later I was waking up after the operation and I no longer had the bottom half of my left lung.
It’s hard to believe, but that makes me one of the lucky few. More people die of lung cancer in the UK than any other type of cancer. 36,000 people every year. That’s more than breast, prostate and pancreatic cancer combined. Just 10% of people diagnosed today will survive for five years. And yet, compared to other types, lung cancer receives much less funding for vital research.
I was shocked by those numbers and I wanted to do something to help to change them. A way to give something back to all the amazing people who have literally saved my life. But also a way to somehow earn this second chance I’ve been given, and make it possible for as many people as possible to have a second chance of their own.
The best way I know how to do that is to support the UK’s only charity Lung Cancer charity, Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.
So here I am. A lot of this blog will be about sponsored events (often cycling, but not always) that I’ll be doing, but there will also be more general posts and a bit of sharing information from RCLF.
For details of the events I’m doing this year check out my fundraising page at:
https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MyLeftLung
Thanks for taking the time to visit.
Joe
My Left Lung 