‘I’ve been given a second chance at life’ - grandmother shares powerful story of overcoming lung cancer

When Liz Clark, 69, from Cults, Aberdeen, first developed a persistent cough in 2013, she thought little of it.

The grandmother of four was a busy lecturer at the time and just assumed it was an annoying lingering infection.

But when two courses of antibiotics failed to make a difference, she went back to her GP practice – a decision that would ultimately save her life.

A chest x-ray revealed an ominous mass in her right lung.

“Hearing I had a suspected tumour was like being kicked in the stomach,” Liz recalls. “l had no other symptoms, so I never thought that it could be as serious as cancer.

The tests confirmed the worst, though: Liz had lung cancer.

Yet, because of the size and placement of the tumour, there was a hopeful – but drastic – treatment option: an operation to remove her right lung.

“The surgery was major and it took a while to recover, including having to retire early,” Liz says.

“But the cancer hadn’t spread, and I didn’t need any subsequent treatment, allowing me to focus on recovery.”

After several years of monitoring and a gradual return to good health, Liz was given the all-clear and discharged from her clinical team in 2019. Today, she is determined to live life to the fullest.

“Receiving a cancer diagnosis and going through surgery was a big thing for me to deal with,” she says. “But I now feel like I’ve come out the other side.”

Liz’s experience backs up the aims of the Scottish Government’s 'Be The Early Bird' campaign, a national initiative designed to raise awareness of the importance of spotting symptoms quickly – especially for people over 40 – and getting them checked out at their GP practice.

Things to look out for include a new, persistent cough that lasts more than three weeks,