‘Without the lung check there’s a chance I wouldn’t be here now’

A grandad who cycled almost 90 miles a week was shocked to discover he had lung cancer.

John White, 74, was diagnosed with a stage one tumour after going for a routine lung check. He had no symptoms and was a keen cyclist, regularly clocking up the miles from his home in Dover and further afield.

As a smoker, John was eligible for the check, but when his GP first suggested it he dismissed the idea.

He said: “I just thought there was no need for it. I was really active and I had no symptoms other than the usual smoker’s cough.

“But he encouraged me to just go and see, so I thought I had nothing to lose.

“When it turned out I had cancer I was shocked. It was very emotional, but it was caught very early so I am lucky and very glad I went for the screening.”

Smokers and former smokers aged between 55 and 74 and living in the south Kent coast and Canterbury areas are eligible for the lung checks at the moment. People living in Faversham, Whitstable and Herne Bay will be invited next year, with plans to roll them out to the rest of the county by 2030.

They involve an initial telephone assessment, and a CT scan for people identified as high risk from the call.

John, a dad of two with two grandsons, was also referred to a specialist clinic to help him quit smoking and said the support made all the difference. Wife Pam also joined him and both are now smoke-free.

He said: “I had stopped before but only for a few months, then I would start again.

“This time was different and we had three months of free nicotine replacements.

“Diane from the clinic was absolutely fantastic and we couldn’t have done it without her.

“All the way through the treatment has been superb. It couldn’t have been better if I’d paid.”

John, who worked in the merchant navy and as a carpenter, had surgery at Guys Hospital in London to remove a third of his right lung, but did not need chemo or radiotherapy.

Pam, who also worked at sea and as a factory manager, was found to have a nodule in her lung which clinicians are keeping an eye on.

She said: “When we were young, everyone smoked. They advertised it on TV and there was a lot of peer pressure.

“We just didn’t know the dangers. Coming from a family of smokers it seemed like the natural thing to do.

“Working at sea we could buy cigarettes for pennies and we just didn’t think anything of it.”

John added: “You are paying money to kill yourself; when you think about it like that it is crazy.

“But you never think it will happen to you. I was walking around and I had no idea I had cancer. 

“Without the lung check there’s a chance I wouldn’t be here now, or I would be very poorly.

“I would encourage everyone to get a lung check if they are eligible.”

The pair, who have been together for 45 years and married for 25, are now back on two wheels – but have bought electric bikes to help with the hills.