A Caringbah mum who is battling a deadly disease wishes peope would “stop asking the wrong questions about lung cancer.”
It is a cry for compassion with a national message being pushed this week as part of a new education campaign by Lung Foundation Australia.
On January 21, the foundation launches new statistics that shows a lack of awareness when it comes to the causes of lung cancer.
Its latest report showed that 40 per cent of people recently surveyed said the first question the public would ask someone diagnosed with lung cancer is whether or not they smoked.
Although about 21 percent of people living with lung cancer are lifelong non-smokers, almost 90 per cent believe smoking is the only lung cancer risk factor, despite other proven links including genetics, pollution and occupational exposure.
One in four women and one in 10 men diagnosed with the condition have no history of smoking.
Lung cancer is the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia.
Other lung diseases including lung fibrosis, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and pulmonary tuberculosis increases risk of developing lung cancer.
Carolyn Riordan, supported by her daughter Elyse, 16, is backing the campaign that aims to end the stigma and judgement around lung cancer.
Mrs Riordan is living with stage 4 lung cancer. She has never smoked.
She says she still faces the questions that surround the disease when revealing her diagnosis to friends and family, and because of this, she kept her diagnosis a secret for a long time.
“Initially when I was diagnosed, Elyse and my other girls were Googling trying to find more information, and the statistics were horrifying,” she said.
“But information is power.
“Recently we took a family trip to Europe, and I asked an oncologist in Germany if this same stigma existed in Europe. But it’s nowhere the same, and that’s in the problem. The government does a great job in trying to stop smoking but in turn it’s created a stigma, and more work needs to be done.”
Foundation chairman Professor Christine Jenkins says changing the way people think about lung cancer will improve health outcomes.
“It is imperative in order to improve quality of life – that we as a nation rid ourselves of the stigma we know is having a devastating impact on the funding, research, treatment and support needed for people living with lung cancer and other lung diseases,” she said.
“We need to throw out these prejudices and ensure we are acknowledging and supporting people with lung disease.
“We know that Australians from all walks of life are not only living with the disease but are feeling isolated and discriminated against.
“People delay seeking help and feel ashamed of their diagnosis.”
Foundation chief executive, Mark Brooke, says the goal is to encourage people to show more informed empathy.
“We’d like to hope that many Australians do not fully realise just how far-reaching the impact of their stigma can be,” he said.
“It results in delayed diagnoses, access to treatment, and a lack of research funding.
“We also know it makes people living with lung cancer reluctant to seek help and, distressingly, four times more likely to suicide than the general population.
“The Australian government needs to fully commit to a review of lung cancer research investment which lags behind other cancers, despite lung cancer having the poorest survivability statistics.”