The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Fears cancer being mislabelled Covid
APerth father who was diagnosed with lung cancer following a family trip to Florida is fronting a national campaign to bring the disease “out from the shadow” of Covid-19.
Andy McKay ,47, is highlighting the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation’s Still Here campaign which has raised concerns the signs of lung cancer, a new cough, are being mislabelled as coronavirus.
The foundation points to research that claims delays in the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer during the pandemic could lead to 1,372 avoidable deaths in the next five years.
Andy was diagnosed with the disease in 2017 after he noticed that he was not feeling himself.
The father of two said: “It began with symptoms in my head. I started to get strange headaches and feeling a bit dizzy and off-balance.
“I likened it to the feeling of having about two gins but then it turned into something more like 10 gins. I thought it might be bad hay fever because it was summertime.
“The balance problems were off and on. Then it got to the point where I had balance issues permanently and unfortunately that was the day before we travelled to Florida.”
After returning from the US, Andy went for a scan where it was discovered he had a brain tumour that had developed from a primary tumour in his lung.
The devastating diagnosis has left Andy in no doubt about the importance of having access to GPs and tests.
“I feel very strongly about people not feeling able to see their GP and therefore not being referred for further tests,” said Andy.
“I just want to make people aware of what a persistent cough can mean, so they will – hopefully – insist on getting properly tested.”
Paula Chadwick, the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Founda t ion ’s ch ie f executive, is encouraging people with symptoms they believe may be related to Covid to get themselves checked properly for other illnesses.
She said: “All cancers have felt the devastation of the pandemic but lung cancer faces an additional obstacle given that one of its most common symptoms – a persistent cough – is so often linked to Covid-19.
“It’s vital people go to their doctor if the cough pers ists , or if it ’s accompanied by other symp toms such as breathlessness, tiredness, coughing up blood or weight loss.”