Lifestyle
May 21, 2023 | 4:55 PM
A woman from the UK said she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer even though she had never smoked.
Natasha Loveridge, 49, was shocked when she was diagnosed with the disease in December, but now others who can get it as well and who may not know it I want to raise awareness of people.
“I really want to promote a nationwide universal screening program,” Loveridge said, according to the Southwest News Service.
“We need to make people aware that having lungs can lead to lung cancer.”
Loveridge, an elementary school teacher, recalled last June that one of her first symptoms was funny-sounding breathing.
SWNS reported that her breathing sounded like she “swallowed a squeaky dog toy” and her voice was more husky than usual.
But those symptoms disappeared for a while, so she attributed it to stress.
It wasn’t until August that symptoms returned, along with a cough. There she was examined by a doctor. They sent her to the hospital, where an x-ray revealed a mass in her lungs.
Further tests found some abnormalities in her lymph nodes, after which doctors confirmed she indeed had lung cancer.
According to SWNS, Loveridge said the diagnosis came as a shock to her because she never smoked, ate a predominantly plant-based diet, and had always lived a healthy lifestyle. bottom.
According to SWNS, she said she was “completely shocked when it was first proposed.” She said, “I thought I could never get lung cancer.”
“I’m too young, I don’t smoke, I don’t know anyone who smokes. I’m very healthy. I run a lot, I walk in the hills, I ride my bike, I do a lot of yoga. I eat a predominantly plant-based diet.”
But doctors told her that her cancer was likely due to a mutation in a gene called EGFR+.
EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) is a protein that exists on cells and helps cells grow, but if there is a mutation in the gene, it can grow excessively and cause cancer. American Lung Association.
Like Loveridge, many people diagnosed with EGFR+ cancer have never smoked.
“Every time I attended all these appointments, I was the youngest on the spot,” she admitted, according to a SWNS report. “It was just a shock. It was a complete disbelief.”
Now the 49-year-old is taking a cancer growth-blocking drug called osimertinib, which has already reduced her primary tumor by 25%, she said.
Her prognosis is unknown, but nothing will stop her or hold her back.
“Now, partly because the treatments are so good, I can actually do whatever I want and live a normal happy and fulfilling life,” she said, according to SWNS.
“Just because you have cancer doesn’t mean you have to end your life.
she too fundraising I made a donation to a lung cancer research charity called the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, which works to help those suffering from this disease.
Loveridge added that cancer has changed the way she views her life.
“Since getting this diagnosis, I have completely rebuilt everything. It has completely rebuilt my life,” she said.
“You appreciate each day and live each day as best you can.
