Lung cancer: 'If only I'd seen my doctor sooner' Ironically, lung cancer was a disease I had feared all my life, as both my parents were heavy smokers. Every morning as a child, I hid under the bedclothes to block out my mother's morning cough. When I tried cigarettes myself, as smokers" children do, I assumed I was safe because I chose Ultra Mild. "Lite" or slim cigarettes, we now know, are not safer, but lead to the more diffuse, slow-growing adenocarcinoma (cancer of the mucus lining of the lung), rather than the faster-developing squamous cell, or small-cell varieties. Adenocarcinoma was the type I was eventually diagnosed with, in July 2010. This type of cancer is increasing and women are overtaking men in the lung cancer statistics, because advertising sold the idea that sassy businesswomen or cool, rebellious types smoked. When I observe the 25 per cent of young people who still take up smoking, I long to preach, but it's a hard message to get across even to my own son, a smoker at 22. Smoking is the key risk factor for lung cancer, but not smoking does not mean you can't get it. Twenty per cent of people with lung cancer have never smoked or, like myself, are ex-very light smokers. This group may have other risk factors. Some may have been exposed to asbestos; others, of whom I am one, have been found to have a mutated gene for lung cancer, probably caused by a virus. I didn't know any of this until too late. Americans are less passive about health than we Brits. Stefanie Powers, for example, saved her own life. After a friend died of late-diagnosed lung cancer eight years ago, the actress, singer and conservationist, who made her name in the Eighties series Hart to Hart, took action. As an ex-smoker, she paid for a CT scan. "It was purely precautionary," she says. CT scans had come down in price and were becoming more effective. I would rather have a scan than another damn holiday. The scan showed pre-cancerous adenocarcinoma cells in the alveoli (branches) of her right lung. From then on, she included a scan in her annual health check-up; as soon as the cells became malignant, she had the affected lobe of the lung removed with keyhole surgery. Aged 68, she now runs regularly to keep her heart strong - vital if part of a lung is missing. Powers is the poster girl for early diagnosis. Against her name on the list of people photographed for the Department of Health campaign's travelling exhibition, it says proudly: "Had lung cancer." She has just completed a British theatre tour in On Golden Pond and a singing tour in New York. I would rather be in her position than my own. Next to my picture, dressed in a turban to cover my resprouting hair, the caption reads "Living with lung cancer." Being one of the 65,000 people who are in that position, who are now struggling with breathlessness is, I feel sure, less fun than running almost puff‑free along the airstrip, altitude 7,000 feet, of Powers's wildlife sanctuary in Kenya. If only I had gone to the doctor sooner. Among the other celebrities photographed holding up lung X-rays to put across the early diagnosis message in the Be Clear About Cancer campaign are Lynda Bellingham, Duncan Bannatyne and Billy Bragg, all of whom have lost loved ones to the disease and who wish to help reduce the 35,000 deaths a year it causes in this country. At present, we are low in the survival league, along with Denmark, which also has GPs as gatekeepers to services. Canada, which has substantially raised the price of tobacco and has a highly effective awareness programme, has the highest five-year survival figure of 20 per cent. Hearing Tony Parsons or Ricky Gervais talking about their parents" death is not recommended to anyone like myself fearful of the future. Their words about the suffering it causes are too painful for me to repeat. But we must talk about it because the stigma is not helping. "If we don't talk about lung cancer, we've had it," says Powers. It's our obligation to find out what diagnostic tools are available and use them. There have been great advances. Those who don't take advantage of them are mad. Yet people's terror of the diagnosis encourages ostrich-like behaviour, says Jesme Fox, medical director of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, and wife of former health secretary Dr Liam Fox. Thirty-eight per cent of all new cases of lung cancer are still first identified in accident-and-emergency departments, and they are all late-stage. Smokers in particular often avoid going to the doctor because they feel their symptoms are to be expected and fear a ticking off. "But there is no such thing as a smoker's cough," says Fox. If you've had a cough for more than three weeks, go to the doctor. Visiting the GP can be a frustrating experience, though. Some patients get fobbed off without an X-ray or CT scan as often as four times, she adds. An X-ray only costs £10-£12, so there is no reason not to check. A CT scan provides more detail if needed. That small investment could mean early surgery to remove the cancer, rather than more costly and unpleasant chemotherapy for a cancer that has spread, not to mention the incalculable grief involved in preventable death. Age and postcode still determine survival. Younger people are more likely to get treatment than the over-sixties, according to Fox, while those who live in London have an 18 per cent chance of getting surgery compared with 3 per cent in Herefordshire. It is early diagnosis, however, that is key to improving survival. The chances of living for five years after diagnosis with breast, bowel, prostate and blood cancers have all improved in recent years; but late diagnosis combined with little research funding keeps lung cancer trailing drearily along at the bottom of the graph. Despite accounting for one in four cancer deaths each year, lung cancer attracts only 5 per cent of research funding aimed at individual cancers. Fox believes this is largely due to the stigma that surrounds smoking, although cigarettes and other lifestyle and environmental factors are heavily implicated in many other cancers. Research being undertaken at the University of Liverpool and in Scotland could see a British screening programme set up within a few years, she adds. We need a screening programme. The aim now is to get five-year survival up to 30 per cent. Overall, we can save 5,000 cancer deaths a year by earlier diagnosis. In Scotland and Doncaster, they have recently run local campaigns to raise awareness of the symptoms of lung cancer. Twelve-foot, bouncy megalungs are now touring the country's car parks, drawing attention to a part of the body largely taken for granted. A similar pilot for early diagnosis aimed at bowel cancer increased the numbers going to their doctors by 30 per cent. From now on, there will be no excuse for not knowing the telltale signs. "If you have been coughing for more than three weeks, go to the doctor," says Jesme Fox. It's probably not anything serious. But if it is, you would be better off finding out early. It would be worth it, believe me.