Aussie grandmother diagnosed on her birthday with lung cancer, the same disease that killed husband
Jenny Egan was delivered the shocking news that a large mass had been found on her lung on May 7, when she was meant to be celebrating turning 64.
Egan, from Fishing Point in NSW, is now preparing to begin treatment for stage four lung cancer which has grown onto her chest wall and spread into her adrenal gland.
'I was just crying. I was devastated for my kids having to go through this again,' Egan told 7NEWS.com.au of the moment she learned her life had been turned upside down.
'(My husband) was given 12 months and that's how long he lived.'
Egan, a patient transfer officer with State Medical Assistance, set an appointment with a doctor when she started feeling serious chest pain whenever she coughed, laughed or would lie down.
But she almost cancelled the booking on the day because, by then, the pain had subsided.
Going to the appointment, she had tests and less than 24 hours later — on her birthday — she was hauled back in to hear the shocking news.
'I was thinking 'oh my God. How can I have lung cancer?' There's no pain and I didn't feel any different to how I have always felt,' she said.
Doctors told her the cancer could not be surgically removed.
She will begin radiation for the metastatic lesion on her adrenal gland next week, followed by chemotherapy and radiation to her lung.
Her daughter, Brittney Egan, said the treatment 'will hopefully extend her chances of being with us for a little while longer, but with her strength, we are hoping for more'.
'We are so thankful on where things are today with treatments because 15 years ago the doctors would have palliated (Egan) and not given her very long left with us,' she said.
'It's going to take me'
Egan, a grandmother-to-two and mother-of-two, said she will continue to fight.
'It is going to take me but I don't know when. I don't know much time I have,' she said.
'I'm on a bit of a rollercoaster ride — laughing one moment and then in a ball crying the next.
'I'm not giving up. I've been knocked down a thousand times before but I will not give up.'
Egan told 7NEWS.com.au her health blow comes after she was the victim of a scam last year that left the fiercely independent grandmother unable to dip into her super or savings to cover mounting out-of-pocket costs.
Loved ones and strangers have chipped in generously via a GoFundMe to help with medical and living expenses.
Egan said she was 'overwhelmed' by those offering to help in her time of need.
National Lung Cancer Screening Program
Lung cancer is among the most common cancers in Australian men and women, with more than 15,000 cases diagnosed in 2024.
It is Australia's deadliest cancer, with more than 9000 deaths attributed to lung cancer in 2022.
The Lung Foundation Australia is hopeful a National Lung Cancer Screening Program being launched in July will help detect cases earlier, when treatment is most effective.
The program aims to save 12,000 lives over the next decade by using CT scans to look for lung cancer in high-risk people without any symptoms.
'There's hope that the tide will turn and it will be far more common that people will be diagnosed at earlier stages of the disease like other common cancers in Australia, giving people better treatment options and the opportunity to live well for longer,' Lung Foundation Australia chief executive Mark Brooke told 7NEWS.com.au.
To be eligible for the program, you need to be between 50 and 70 years of age and have a history of cigarette smoking.
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