Oh Rob what awful news for you all, I'm so sorry for all cancer does really suck! My mum died from lung cancer 16 years ago now. She had small cell cancer which is the most aggressive, she did respond to treatment though and it prolonged her life for about a year I guess but sadly it came back and she died at the age of 56! My dad now has been diagnosed with lung cancer , he is in his 80's now though and this time it's non small cancer so easier to treat, but obviously being in his 80's I'm not expecting him to around long he is grade 4 too but having treatment but I don't know how long

he has and if the treatment will work. . Do u know any info on your dads cancer? What cancer it is and what grade, I know it's spread so it must be pretty advanced! You just feel so shocked don't u? The only symptom my dad has even now is a horse voice! The Drs thought it waslaryngitis to begin with 

Hope u understood all that it went a bit weird! Your poor mum , there's not a great lot u can do other than try keep positive and make sure she's looking after herself as well as everyone else. Has your dad got many symptoms? I hope I have been of some help, even knowing your not the only one going through it helps maybe ? X

Hi Maria , thanks for the reply , he has not been well for a few months , all his Dr did was prescribe antibiotics for a suspected chest infection which did not clear it so he had x ray last week and a patch was spotted on his lung , they thought it was fluid on the lung so they booked him in gor a ct scan which was going to be done next week , then on Tuesday he went into hospital with chest pains . They tested his heart and everything was fine , so they kept him in overnight and gave him a CT Wednesday , because of the strike he never found out till Thursday what the scan found. He is going to see a specialist after his holiday to see what treatment can be offered . No staging has been said yet , but it's terminal so make your own mind up, he was 70 in December 

My uncle passed away this morning, 2 weeks after being diagnosed.

Hi,

 I am so very sorry to hear your sad news - my thoughts are with you and your family. X

So sad. It makes me truly wonder if they are truly close to a cure! Surely they must be getting close!!  So sorry for you loss. Xx

Hello Rob, 

We're so sorry to hear the news about your Uncle passing this morning. Understandably this is a very difficult time for all of you at the moment. 

If you feel it might help to talk to one of our nurses about your Dad's diagnosis and treatment then please do give them a call. They are available Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm on 0808 800 4040 (free to call from a UK landline). 

In the meantime please do post here whenever you feel the need to. 

Thinking of you all. 

Jenn
Cancer Chat moderator

Oh I'm so sorry to hear that, your going through an awful time at the moment! How is your dad doing? 

Hi rob I'm so sorry to hear about your dad and the loss of your uncle, I'm going through a similar thing, my dad has just been diagnosed with non small cell lung cancer with plural effussion and the cancer has gone to his chest wall, like yourself we have not been given a stage all we know is that it can't be operated on but meeting with oncologist on Monday to discuss chemo and radiotherapy which he will hopefully start in next wk or so! It's just such a rubbish time isn't it!! I wish your dad all the best and thoughts are with your whole family x 

Hi Rob,

Really sorry to hear about this I know what it's like to have close succession hits like this - my wife and her brother died of cancer within 6 weeks of each other.

Its very difficult to know how long someone with cancer like this will live for. There are statistics for it but you have to understand that there is a considerable range.

For example the "average" of 99,100 and 101 is 100 the "average" of 0, 100 and 200 is also 100

So they tend not to talk of average survival but rather what percentage survive 1, 5 and 10 years

It also depends a bit on what type of lung cancer he has it tends to get split into small cell or non-small cell but in any case the key data is here:

www.cancerresearchuk.org/.../lung-cancer-survival-statistics

You can see that less than a third make a year and this is across all "stages"  but then most people like your father are diagnosed at a late stage only 14% of those make a year

So in all probability you are talking about months and quite likely not that many of them. However there are people that survive 3 or 5 years - there are not many of them but they do exist.

I know that all may be somewhat confusing but I hope it helps a bit