People in Suffolk warned not to ignore early signs of lung cancer
Things like long Covid have meant many people are dismissing the early sings
The NHS is campaigning for people in Suffolk not to ignore the early signs of lung cancer.
The pandemic has meant many people have not gone to the doctors for multiple reasons.
Because of this, people could be missing out on catching things early, such as lung cancer.
We spoke to Karen Hare, Chief Executive fromCancer Campaign in Suffolk:" We have to remember that we are tipping the balance of more survivors of cancer than deaths of cancer.
"So COVID sort of a sort of knocked his back a bit with that, and that was because quite a lot of people did not go when they had something that they felt was actually wrong with them.
"They didn't actually go to a GP. So we we we need to sort of regain that balance.
"Lung cancer is one of the fifth highest killers of cancer.
"(There are)About 40,000 cases a year throughout England, so there's a lot of people that have (been) affected from it.
"People that can be affected even if they have never smoked."
We asked Karen, why some people might be reluctant to go to the doctors: "There's an element of fear.
"Some people have ave a white coat syndrome and don't like going to see a doctor at all.
"Some people will go to the doctor knowing that they've got a problem, but won't know how to broach it with a doctor. "So they'll talk about their golf and they've had a really good round of golf and and the weather's been nice and they've been in their garden without actually saying really why they're there."
Karen gave us some ideas about how to bring things up with your doctor.
She told us to keep a diary, keep track of your symptoms. This will help to identify how long you have had these symptoms.
It also means once you have booked your appointment, you can pass the diary to the doctor and say this is what I am concerned about.
Karen also spoke to us about entertaining and acknowledging something could be wrong: "We have a lot of people that think if you have cancer, you will die, end of story. And I am pleased to say that that is not always the case.
"The survival rate of cancer is increasing, but it only increases with early diagnosis.
"So early diagnosis means that more successful treatment. So we need everybody to actually body aware."
Karen encourages people to stand in front of a mirror and look at themselves, as you are more likely to notices changes.
We asked Karen what some of the early sign s of lung cancer are: "If you if you have a persistent cough for three weeks, it's not just a cold and it's not just COVID. It needs to be checked out by a doctor. 9 times out of 10, it won't be cancer.
"If you're going upstairs and by the time you get to the top of the stairs, you're out of breath and you don't have a condition that you know about already, then I think that is also something that you actually need to be talking to a doctor about.
"It could be something other than just a cough... Quite a lot of people have the cough then it becomes a chest infection and that's when they go to a doctor as opposed to a persistent cough."
Not only is a early diagnosis better for catching Cancer, it also means any surgery will be less invasive.
But early diagnosis can also help when talking to family.
"When you talk to people in your family about a cancer diagnosis. If you actually say I'm going to the doctor's because I'm concerned about XY, your family will be concerned about that.
"But they will know from the start.
"It's a much easier conversation than it is you actually waiting, going and doing, going to the doctors, finding out that it is going to see a consultant finding out that you've actually got becomes diagnosis to then say to your family. I have got cancer.
"It's a much gentler way that when you actually go because you've got concerns.
"And then they can either be struck out, or if you have got a diagnosis, then people are actually with you from the start as opposed to the shock.
"Because it is a shock, it's a shock for everybody."