David’s life-saving lung check

Veteran David Kerr was a smoker for more than 30 years, before a lung check trial piloted in Kent revealed he had early stage lung cancer.

David, from Dover, was smoking 40 cigarettes a night during his shifts as a security guard at a haulage yard when he had an invite from the Kent and Medway Cancer Alliance to have a lung health check, designed to spot lung cancer earlier. David said: “During my check, I was honest for the first time about how much I smoked. I’d always downplayed my smoking to doctors before because I didn’t want a lecture.”

Following a CT scan and more tests, he was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Kent is the first pilot site nationally to offer patients support from a stop smoking adviser as part of the lung check. The programme, for current or ex-smokers aged 55 to 75, has so far scanned nearly 1,000 people in Kent, with 11 of them, including David, needing investigations for lung and other cancers.

David had surgery at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London, along with support to help him quit smoking for good from Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust’s Lung Health Check Adviser Diane Jones.

Diane said: “Giving up smoking can be hard but David had the prospect of major surgery and this helped motivate him, especially when his surgeon said his lung capacity would be better after his operation if he stayed smokefree.”

David said: “I thought, I need to quit, those NHS staff are working so hard to keep me alive. Diane was fantastic, not pushy at all. It was never like an appointment, it always felt like going for a coffee with a friend. She was the reason I quit smoking, not the patches, she was just fantastic.”

David had the good news that his cancer was gone following his surgery in February. Apart from regular scans every six months to keep an eye on things, he’s now recovered and looking forward to getting back to work, enjoying life with his family cancer-free.

Visit www.lungcheckskm.nhs.uk for more information on the lung health check pilot.