Younger non-smoker died of terminal lung most cancers after signs have been initially dismissed as nervousness

Enact you reflect lung most cancers solely impacts people who smoke? That is what 36-year-old Liam Handley and the medical doctors who examined this match and wholesome man from Derbyshire, UK, believed till he was recognized with lung most cancers.

When Liam started experiencing chest ache, stress and coronary heart palpitations, medical doctors initially attributed it to nervousness, which he had struggled with for many of his life, and elevated his treatment. Nonetheless, the ache endured and each time he consulted the medical doctors, his treatment was adjusted.

Liam handed away in 2021, months after receiving a prognosis that his most cancers was terminal. In keeping with his mom, Lynn Handley, Liam’s label as a non-smoker negatively affected him. “He was not referred for a chest x-ray throughout any of his visits.” mentioned Lynn.

“I don’t reflect lung most cancers was ever thought of. Liam did not match the stereotypical lung most cancers affected person; he was younger, a non-smoker, not obese and comparatively match. That definitely wasn’t in our heads. However that wasn’t the case with household medical doctors both, and that’s the place the drawback lies,” she mentioned.

At one level, when the chest ache turned extreme, Liam’s household feared he was having a coronary heart assault and rushed him to the hospital. Throughout his hospital keep, medical doctors found blood clots in his lungs and prescribed blood thinners to dissolve them. Though Liam was suggested to occupy a CT scan, the process was delayed as a result of COVID-19.

As Liam’s signs continued to worsen and the ache unfold to his shoulders and decrease again, he was prescribed sturdy painkillers. Liam then determined to pay for a personal CT scan. Solely then was he recognized with late-stage lung most cancers, a genetically mutated kind known as EGFR Exon19-positive adenocarcinoma, which usually impacts individuals with small or no historical past of smoking.

“We have been all devastated. We’re instructed they did not anticipate Liam to stay longer than 5 to 6 weeks. “We have improved Liam’s prognosis and given us extra time with our glorious boy,” Lynn mentioned.

Regardless of the preliminary prognosis, Liam responded nicely to remedy, together with chemotherapy and immunotherapy, earlier than passing away on October 4, 2021. Now Lynn is sharing her son’s fable to lift consciousness about lung most cancers, particularly amongst those that nonetheless imagine it’s only a smoking-related illness.