Diagnosed with stage four lung cancer — despite never smoking

 A woman from England said that she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer – despite never picking up a cigarette.

Natasha Loveridge, 49, was stunned when she was diagnosed with the disease in December, and now wants to raise awareness for others who could be affected by it as well – and may not even know it.

“I really want to push for a national universal screening program,” Loveridge said, according to South West News Service.

“We really need to put it down in people’s consciousness that if you’ve got lungs, you can get lung cancer.”

Loveridge, who is an elementary school teacher, recalled one of her first symptoms was funny-sounding breathing last June.

She remembered her breathing sounding like she had “swallowed a squeaky dog toy,” SWNS reported, and that her voice was huskier than usual.

Natasha Loveridge wants to raise awareness about lung cancer after being diagnosed with a stage four case.

Yorkshire Post / SWNS

But those symptoms went away for a little while, so she chalked it up to stress.

It wasn’t until August that they came back, along with a cough – so she went to the doctors. They sent her to the hospital, where she received an x-ray that showed that she had a mass on her lung.

With further testing, they also found some oddities in her lymph nodes – and later, the doctors confirmed that she did indeed have lung cancer.

She explained that she was shocked by the diagnosis at first.

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According to SWNS, Loveridge explained that she was quite shocked to receive this diagnosis, as she’s always lived a healthy lifestyle – she doesn’t smoke, and she follows a mostly plant-based diet.

“When it was first suggested, it was a complete shock,” she said, according to SWNS. “It was like I can’t have lung cancer.”

“I am too young, I don’t smoke, I don’t know people who smoke, I am really fit, I used to run, I do lots of hill walks, I ride my bike, I do loads of yoga, and I eat predominantly a plant-based diet.”

“We really need to put it down in people’s consciousness that if you’ve got lungs, you can get lung cancer,” Loveridge said, according to SWNS.

Yorkshire Post / SWNS

However, doctors told her that her cancer was mostly likely due to a gene mutation called EGFR+.

EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) is a protein that is on your cells, helping them grow – but if you have a mutation in the gene, it can grow too much, which can cause cancer, according to The American Lung Association.

Many who are diagnosed with an EGFR+ cancer don’t have a history of smoking, like Loveridge.

“Whenever I’d go to all these appointments, I was the youngest person there,” she admitted, SWNS reported. “It was just shock, and it was complete and utter disbelief.”

She is currently getting a treatment with a drug called osimertinib.

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Currently, the 49-year-old is taking a cancer-growth blocking drug called osimertinib, which she said have already showed a reduction in her primary tumor by 25%.

It’s unclear what her prognosis is, but she is not letting anything stop her or hold her back.

“Nowadays, the treatments are sometimes so good that, actually, you can live a normal, happy, full life doing everything that you love,” she said, according to SWNS.

“Just because you’ve got cancer it doesn’t mean to say that your life has to stop, because it really doesn’t.”

She is also raising money for a lung cancer research charity called Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, who works to help those who are affected by the disease.

Loveridge added that cancer has changed how she views her own life.

“Since having this diagnosis, it has totally reframed everything. It’s completely reframed my life,” she said.

“You are grateful for every single day and you live every single day as much as you can. You just find so much enjoyment even out of the smallest little things.”

https://nypost.com/2023/05/21/i-was-diagnosed-with-stage-4-lung-cancer-despite-never-smoking/