Latest news with #LungFoundationAustralia
7NEWS
12-06-2025
- Health
- 7NEWS
Aussie grandmother diagnosed on her birthday with lung cancer, the same disease that killed husband
A grandmother has been diagnosed on her birthday with the same cancer that killed her husband 18 years ago. Jenny Egan was delivered the shocking news that a large mass had been found on her lung on May 7, when she was meant to be celebrating turning 64. Egan, from Fishing Point in NSW, is now preparing to begin treatment for stage four lung cancer which has grown onto her chest wall and spread into her adrenal gland. 'I was just crying. I was devastated for my kids having to go through this again,' Egan told of the moment she learned her life had been turned upside down. '(My husband) was given 12 months and that's how long he lived.' Egan, a patient transfer officer with State Medical Assistance, set an appointment with a doctor when she started feeling serious chest pain whenever she coughed, laughed or would lie down. But she almost cancelled the booking on the day because, by then, the pain had subsided. Going to the appointment, she had tests and less than 24 hours later — on her birthday — she was hauled back in to hear the shocking news. 'I was thinking 'oh my God. How can I have lung cancer?' There's no pain and I didn't feel any different to how I have always felt,' she said. Doctors told her the cancer could not be surgically removed. She will begin radiation for the metastatic lesion on her adrenal gland next week, followed by chemotherapy and radiation to her lung. Her daughter, Brittney Egan, said the treatment 'will hopefully extend her chances of being with us for a little while longer, but with her strength, we are hoping for more'. 'We are so thankful on where things are today with treatments because 15 years ago the doctors would have palliated (Egan) and not given her very long left with us,' she said. 'It's going to take me' Egan, a grandmother-to-two and mother-of-two, said she will continue to fight. 'It is going to take me but I don't know when. I don't know much time I have,' she said. 'I'm on a bit of a rollercoaster ride — laughing one moment and then in a ball crying the next. 'I'm not giving up. I've been knocked down a thousand times before but I will not give up.' Egan told her health blow comes after she was the victim of a scam last year that left the fiercely independent grandmother unable to dip into her super or savings to cover mounting out-of-pocket costs. Loved ones and strangers have chipped in generously via a GoFundMe to help with medical and living expenses. Egan said she was 'overwhelmed' by those offering to help in her time of need. National Lung Cancer Screening Program Lung cancer is among the most common cancers in Australian men and women, with more than 15,000 cases diagnosed in 2024. It is Australia's deadliest cancer, with more than 9000 deaths attributed to lung cancer in 2022. The Lung Foundation Australia is hopeful a National Lung Cancer Screening Program being launched in July will help detect cases earlier, when treatment is most effective. The program aims to save 12,000 lives over the next decade by using CT scans to look for lung cancer in high-risk people without any symptoms. 'There's hope that the tide will turn and it will be far more common that people will be diagnosed at earlier stages of the disease like other common cancers in Australia, giving people better treatment options and the opportunity to live well for longer,' Lung Foundation Australia chief executive Mark Brooke told To be eligible for the program, you need to be between 50 and 70 years of age and have a history of cigarette smoking.
Sky News AU
31-05-2025
- Health
- Sky News AU
'Nicotine is addictive as heroin': Lung Foundation Australia calls for crackdown on sale of cigarettes at supermarkets
Australia's leading body for lung health is pushing the government to ban the sale of cigarettes from the nation's big supermarkets, in a bid to put health before profits. Lung Foundation Australia CEO Mark Brooke has claimed it is "irresponsible" to allow people to purchase cigarettes with their milk and bread during weekly grocery shops. 'We need everyone from government to big corporations to put the lung health of Australians ahead of profits from a product that kills 66 Australians daily,' he said. 'Previous news reports have highlighted Coles estimates their cigarette sales each year is enough to kill more than 1,600 Australians and cause tobacco-related medical costs of more than $300 million a year." Former tobacco addict Sarah Waters also joined the crackdown and shared she had been a smoker for 28 years, starting at the age of 13. Ms Waters attributed her long-term addiction to the lack of restrictions prohibiting the sale of tobacco to underage people. 'It isn't easy to quit but not being able to buy cigarettes so easily would have made a big difference," she said. "When I started smoking there was no age limits in place and they were marketed to young people as being cool." Lung Foundation Australia has urged the government to restrict the number of tobacco retail outlets via their tobacco licensing schemes. A new tobacco licensing scheme is set to take effect across New South Wales from July 1, requiring all tobacco retailers and wholesalers to have a license to sell tobacco and non-tobacco smoking products in the state. In NSW it is also illegal for any retailers other than a pharmacy to sell any type of vaping good, regardless of its nicotine content. "The federal government can support broader efforts by investigating the health and economic impacts of a generational phase out of tobacco products," Lung Foundation Australia said. Associate Professor Henry Marshall compared nicotine addition to the same as heroine and suggested the only difference between the two, is the latter cannot be bought at a supermarket. 'People who smoke deserve more help from health professionals and the government. I would like to see people demand action from the multinational tobacco companies who have known smoking causes lung cancer since before 1954 and continued to sell products to make profit off Australians," he said. "It is time we said, 'enough is enough'. 'It is hard to fight an addiction while also being able to buy tobacco products so easily.'
