Publish date: 1 August 2023
On World Lung Cancer Day (August 1st), one of the Cancer Alliance’s patient representatives is raising awareness of the disease which took her husband, Geoff.
Geoff passed away in June 2020 and his wife, Barbara Jacquest, is keen to urge other people to get checked out by contacting their GP practice if they have any symptoms which are troubling them.
World Lung Cancer Day is a time to start conversations and raise awareness of the disease.
Barbara said: “I don’t want anyone to go through what Geoff went through. If I can raise awareness of symptoms and encourage others to go to their GP, I will.
“Geoff started to suffer with a chest infection that wouldn’t go away at the end of 2019. He was out of breath, with a persistent cough and the feeling of always needing to clear his throat.
“To anyone who is worried about symptoms like these, please speak to your GP. Geoff hated going to the doctors and put it off, but if he’d have listened to his body he could’ve been treated sooner and it might’ve had a different outcome.”
Barbara, who lives in Litherland, Sefton, signed up to be a Cancer Alliance patient representative and is a ‘patient voice’ when Cancer Alliance teams work on new projects or create new materials to inform cancer patients. The representatives also help the Alliance to raise awareness of the disease.
To find out more about lung cancer, please visit: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/lung-cancer/
To know more about being a patient representative, please see: https://cmcanceralliance.nhs.uk/public-information/get-involved