Not anybody's fault: why lung cancer is so often found late
Vee Rayson is a committee member at Lung Cancer Nursing UK and Lead Clinical Specialist Nurse for Lung Cancer & EBUS services in Wigan. She is often one of the first people someone talks to after a scan has found something concerning. This is what she sees, in her own words.
Not anybody's fault
Most of my patients are diagnosed late, not that it's anybody's fault, but sometimes the symptoms are so not out there, you wouldn't think the symptoms actually pertain to lung cancer.
The signs people explain away
Sometimes they just present with the shoulder pain, or sometimes they just present with repeated chest infections.
I've spoken to most of these patients, and the reason they tell me they didn't seek medical help is because they thought that was a smoker's cough. And this smoker's cough will go on for a long time without them seeking medical treatment.
Sometimes they present with this shoulder pain and they think it's just because of arthritis. Some of our patients have COPD, and when they get breathless, they think it's due to the COPD. They don't think that there is anything sinister there. And some of them, when they start coughing up blood, they think it's an infection.
Sometimes these cancers are very clever, because sometimes they hide behind organs. With a chest X-ray you can't see them.
Why people wait
I work in a very deprived area, and most patients don't want to bother the doctors, that's what they say. Or they say, oh, I haven't been to my GP for a long time.
When we have spoken to them about the bad news, most of the time these patients, they feel so guilty, because the first thing they'll tell you is, is it because I've smoked all my life, or because I started smoking when I was very young? It's that guiltiness that actually prevents them from accessing medical people.
When lung cancer is suspected
I see patients from the time they have an abnormal CT scan, and we take it from there. Here in Wigan, the support starts from the telephone consultation.
When they have a CT scan, you can actually see how patients are so scared, even if the CT scan comes back negative. They will be like, are you sure that there is no cancer there?
When we talk to the patient, we don't say you've got lung cancer. We say there is a shadow there which is looking suspicious. There is a chance that this could be lung cancer. We are suspecting lung cancer, but we are not yet 100% sure.
The lived experience side
Vee also knows lung cancer as a wife. Her husband Paul had none of the symptoms most people expect.
“I knew something wasn’t right. Sometimes, you must listen to that little alarm bell.”
With thanks
This year's Get Checked! campaign looks at both sides of lung cancer diagnosis. To understand the professional side properly, we needed to see it for ourselves. In August 2026, the lung cancer team at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust opened their doors to us. Led by Vee Rayson, Lead Clinical Nurse Specialist for lung cancer, the team took us through every step of their rapid diagnostic pathway, from the first abnormal scan to the moment someone hears their results. We heard from the MDT co-ordinator, a respiratory consultant, the lung cancer nurse specialists, the pathway navigator, and the bronchoscopy and CT biopsy teams. Every one of them gave us their time, answered our questions, and showed us how much they care about the people they support.
Our special thanks to Vee, and to Lung Cancer Nursing UK, a member of Lung Cancer Europe, for making the visit happen and for everything they have contributed to this campaign. The team's knowledge, honesty and passion run through everything you see on this site.
