REDDITCH resident Lucy Woollard beat the odds after she survived a terminal lung cancer diagnosis.
Ten years ago, aged just 32, she was told she had months to live, and was devastated as she had already been through the trauma of one diagnosis, and surgery she hoped might cure her.
Yet, ten years,later, she remains very much alive and well.
She recently moved with her husband and daughter, now a teenager, into their new home in Redditch.
She said: “It took a long time to be diagnosed, despite having many symptoms, it started with sore knees, then a tickly cough.
“I was also losing weight and I had clubbed fingers, but, given my age, I was told there was next to no chance I had lung cancer.”
Many months later she was diagnosed and had surgery to remove the tumour.
‘’However, just a few weeks later, my symptoms returned.
‘’I had another CT-guided biopsy and a bronchoscopy and they both confirmed that the lung cancer had sadly returned.
“At that point, I still thought there was hope, that I could have surgery again, but the medical team sat me down and explained that was no longer an option.”
Lucy was even told to bring her daughter’s birthday party forward from September to May, believing she wouldn’t live long enough to celebrate her birthday.
“That was my lowest point, when I was told there was no hope.”
She started chemotherapy, and was amazed to find her tumour had gone.
“I remember them saying, it’s gone but it’s going to come back.’’
However, for whatever reason, Lucy’s cancer has not returned.
Lucy, now 42, is doing all she can to support the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation in promoting ways to detect the disease at its the earliest stage.
Its Spot the Difference campaign uses real-life patient case studies and short video clips to illustrate the subtle and gradual changes that might indicate lung cancer.
Visit roycastle.org for more information.
