A Pain in the Back: Jan's Silent Disease Discovery

Jan's upper back pain led to a Stage IV lung cancer diagnosis in retirement

I'm Jan, and I'm 58 years old and love to travel. I found it a difficult step to reach out for help but since doing so I have found a great deal of support, encouragement and peace.

When I received my diagnosis in 2022, it was Stage IV EGFR+ lung cancer. I had been experiencing ongoing pain in my chest, neck, upper back and shoulder. It will be 3 years this June since I was diagnosed, which started with a pain in my upper back. This came as a complete shock to me as a healthy, fit recent retiree.

Since then I have tried to live life to the full and fortunately been able to travel to some beautiful countries such as The Maldives, Barbados, Greece, Italy, Germany and others. I want to raise awareness of this silent disease which is often not diagnosed until the late stages.

"We need to help change the perceptions around non smoking lung cancer as most people have no idea about it."