‘All you need is lungs to get lung cancer’

If you picture a patient with terminal lung cancer, Sara Turle is probably not the image that would come to mind.

The mum and grandmother was diagnosed in April last year but you’re more likely to find her walking miles along the beach than spending time in hospital.

Sara, from Westgate-on-Sea, takes what she describes as a ‘wonder drug’ each morning which so far is keeping the cancer at bay and buying her extra time.

She said: “To look at me, no one would ever know I was living with the diagnosis I have. They initially told me it could be 18 months to a few years, but I’m at the 18-month mark now from starting treatment and I’m feeling good.

“I walk miles and miles a day, enjoying the things I have always enjoyed; being a granny, following Formula 1 and working in a voluntary capacity as a Patient Partner with NHS staff, through the NHS England Cancer Patient and Public Voice Forum and Kent and Medway Cancer Alliance. This continues to bring real purpose to my days.

“But it is discombobulating; I don’t look any different but I’m living with the knowledge that at some point the wonder drug might not be able to keep holding it back and we will have to look at other treatments, and then that clock will be ticking a bit more.”

Sara, 64, was diagnosed after initially having a cold with a cough over Christmas 2022. As the cold symptoms eased, the cough persisted and kept coming back so she spoke to her GP in March, who referred her for a chest x-ray.

She was able to make an appointment at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital that afternoon, and the images revealed fluid on her lungs.

More than a litre was drained off, but a scan then revealed it was likely she had cancer.

Sara said: “A wonderful nurse consultant called Janine Mair looked after me and I will never forget her.

“She talked me through everything and said there was significant evidence we were looking at lung cancer.

“I had been walking miles, I was fit and healthy, and I’ve never smoked so it wasn’t something I saw coming, but all you need is lungs to get lung cancer.”

Sara had previously had successful treatment for an aggressive breast cancer in 2010, but the lung cancer was not related to her previous disease. Her husband was diagnosed with mouth cancer in 2020.

She said: “Cancer has played a significant part in our lives and John and I together have dealt with an awful lot. Things that impact on our family are the hardest.

“It was devastating to hear it was incurable but it is fantastic that it is treatable, and that the molecular make-up means I can have the targeted treatment.

“My children asked if we would have Christmas, and I had to say I had no idea. But I made it, then my grandson’s second birthday, but I had a wave of wondering whether I would be here for his third.

“I was – but I can’t say if I will be here for his fourth. We are learning to live with it, and dark humour helps gets us through. If we are laughing, everyone else can laugh too.”

Sara, who worked in hospitality management, then as a childminder and then pastoral care in a primary school, has scans every three months to check the cancer has not spread, and monthly check-ups with her medical team.

She said: “I have received nothing but compassionate care from everyone at East Kent Hospitals.

“The team at the Viking Day Unit help get me through – everyone there has a part to play.

“I feel this warm hug of support when I go in there; they are all amazing. My oncologist, Dr Jane Brown, is absolutely superb and perfect for me, and my lung cancer clinical nurse specialist Sharon Gill is incredible.

“People say I inspire them, but all I am doing is muddling through, supported by my most fantastic family, friends, and healthcare team.

“I am certainly not living every moment as if it is my last, or thinking I have to make the most of every single day. I’m just getting on with living the life I have always lived as best I can, recognising there are times I feel sad and taking joy from every opportunity I can.

“That could be a sunrise or sunset, the sea, or seeing a dandelion or a daisy. And a Gregg’s hot sausage roll never fails to make me smile!”