In June 2024, Geoff noticed he was struggling to walk up some of the hills on his golf course. He was getting out of breath, and everything was taking a lot longer.
Treated for a chest infection
Geoff went to his doctor, who thought it might be a chest infection, and gave him antibiotics. A couple of weeks later, he went back, as he was now coughing too, and was given cough medicine. But his breathing kept getting harder. Eventually, Geoff made an appointment with a cardiologist. Within ten minutes of listening to his chest, the cardiologist could tell it wasn't a problem with his heart. Geoff's left lung was filled with fluid. From fluid on the lung to a diagnosis A thoracic specialist drained four litres of fluid from Geoff's lung, which made it much easier for him to breathe, and took a biopsy at the same time. From then on, things moved quickly. In August 2024, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, and biomarker testing a couple of weeks later showed it was ALK-positive.
“It’s quite a daunting experience to be told that you have lung cancer, and one I certainly was not expecting at that point in my life. ”
A team who listened
Geoff couldn't have been happier with the people around him, from the cardiologist, to the thoracic specialist, to his oncologist. They showed real empathy and answered all his questions. Overall, he describes how his diagnosis was reached as a positive experience.
Geoff comes from a business background, with years of experience in finance, strategy and leading change, and is now retired. He uses that experience as a lung cancer advocate, representing ALK Positive Lung Cancer UK.
The healthcare professional side
Professor Jürgen Wolf, a medical oncologist, explains why biomarker testing, which can find changes like ALK, is so important for choosing the right treatment.
