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It’s World Lung Cancer Day 2026. It’s also exactly 7 years since I had surgery to remove a metastatic tumour from my brain caused by my own lung cancer. I got this rather fetching scar! 1/n

In the 7 years since my diagnosis we’ve come a long way. There is a screening program for lung cancer in England and plans under way for equivalents in the devolved nations. There’s a huge number of new treatments available for lung cancer sub-types we could hardly even detect 7 years ago. 2/n

Advances in biopsies and analysis of fragments of tumour DNA allow us to get to accurate diagnoses faster. The NHS has also done a huge amount of work operationally to shorten the diagnostic pathway despite massive pressure on resources. 3/n

The median survival time for stage 4 patients has finally got past the 1 year mark, and many patients like myself do a whole lot better. 4/n

But there’s still plenty to be done. We have to get better at early diagnosis - too many patients, especially non-smoking lung cancer patients are diagnosed too late at stage 4 where we can’t currently attempt curative treatment. 5/n

I’m positive and hopeful about what the next 7 years will bring! Please consider a donation to one of these worthy charities to help improve outcomes for lung cancer: Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation: roycastle.org 7/n

ALK Positive Lung Cancer UK: www.alkpositive.org.uk 8/n

Oncogene Cancer Research: www.oncogeneresearch.org 9/n