A mother-of-three has revealed the unlikely symptoms of her deadly lung cancer – which did not include a cough.
Melanie Erwin, 57, from London, believed she was suffering from Long Covid as her main sign that something was wrong was terrible fatigue.
The vegetarian yoga enthusiast, who has never smoked, visited her GP in late 2020, who referred her for an x-ray.
Devastatingly, scans revealed a “mass” in her left lung, which was later found to be non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common type of the disease.
Despite being treated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, another growth was discovered in March 2024, indicating that the disease had returned. Doctors concluded that his disease was stage 4 and incurable.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the UK, according to the Lung Cancer Coalition, claiming more than 35,000 lives each year.
About a quarter of people diagnosed with the disease each year are non-smokers.
“People tend to be very surprised when I tell them what type of cancer I have,” Erwin told The Mirror. “They look at me and my very healthy lifestyle, I’ve never smoked, and they can’t understand how I have this disease.”
Melanie Erwin, 57, from London, pictured with her partner Sarah, 39, believed she was suffering from Long Covid as her main sign that something was wrong was terrible fatigue.
The vegetarian yoga enthusiast, who has never smoked, visited her GP in late 2020, who referred Erwin for an x-ray, but he was later diagnosed with lung cancer.
Ms Erwin said she believes having Covid “saved her life” and is grateful her GP sent her an x-ray.
But it wasn’t long before the disease became a problem again.
In April 2022, several tiny nodules were detected in his right lung during routine scans, but they were too small for a biopsy to verify whether they were cancerous.
It wasn’t until March of this year that the nodules grew large enough for a biopsy to be performed and it was revealed that his disease was in the most advanced stage.
Ms Erwin was diagnosed with a specific mutation called EGFR positive, which affects between 10 and 15 per cent of the 39,000 people diagnosed with lung cancer in the UK.
While many assume that people with lung cancer are smokers, this strain is more common in people who have never smoked and also affects a higher proportion of people in Asian countries.
Symptoms are similar to other types of lung cancer and can cause chest pain, weight loss, shortness of breath, fatigue, and cough.
Lung cancer in never smokers is the eighth most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the UK, with more deaths each year from lung cancer by never smokers than from ovarian cancer, cervical cancer or leukemia, according to EGFR UK.
Ms. Erwin now takes a daily medication designed to inhibit the growth of tumor cells.
The diagnosis came as a “shock” to Mrs. Erwin, who assumed the news was a “death sentence.”
However, he is now taking daily medications designed to inhibit the growth of tumor cells.
Speaking about the drug, which has only been available in the UK for a few years, he said: “There will come a time when it will stop working, because my cancer cells will notice and my hope is that another drug will come along by then.” be available.
“My goal is to live with stage 4 lung cancer and eventually die with it, not because of it.”
In parallel with his medication, he leads a healthy lifestyle, avoiding sugar, meat and alcohol.
Mrs. Erwin has also started writing about his online experience, which he confesses has been very ‘therapeutic’.
But she emphasizes that she is “proof” that “any person with lungs” can suffer from lung cancer, regardless of their age or lifestyle.
Although people who have never smoked can develop this condition, most cases of lung cancer are caused by smokers. The habit is linked to more than six in 10 cases of lung cancer in the UK, according to Cancer Research UK.