At age 56, Lynn Willis of Blaxland was diagnosed with lung cancer.
She survived the insidious disease, undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment over 12 months. She had given up her nicotine habit a decade earlier after smoking a pack a day for 30 years. She said if she had continued, she believes she wouldn't be here today.
Mrs Willis said "keeping the weight down" was one of the reasons she took up the habit.
"And I always thought 'I'll give up before I get old'," the 68-year-old grandmother said.
Now she's encouraging others, particularly young women, to quit as new research shows that while lung cancer rates are falling in men, in women they are on the rise.
By 2017, the Cancer Council expects lung cancer rates in Australian women to surpass that of the men.
"It's always surprising to me because children are told of the terrible dangers of smoking and the link with lung cancer ... The actual chemotherapy made me extremely ill. I couldn't get out of bed. I don't know how you get through to young people," Mrs Willis said.
Rory Alcock, Cancer Council NSW Greater Western Sydney manager, said the results reflect smoking habits from decades ago as lung cancer incidence trends closely follow patterns of smoking, with a 20- to 30-year lag between patterns and diagnosis.
"Smoking rates in men were seen to drop around the mid 1950s, and as a result there has been a drop in lung cancer incidence amongst men from the early 1980s.
"However, it was only in the mid 1980s that we started to see a reduction in smoking rates in women and we are seeing little sign in the most recent data that the number of women diagnosed with lung cancer in Australia has, or soon will, reach a peak," he said.
The study (Lung cancer prevalence in NSW) published in Cancer Epidemiology, used cancer registrations from NSW to estimate lung cancer rates from 1987 to 2007 and found the lung cancer case rate in women increased significantly over that time (by 88 per cent), while the rate of cases in men fell during the same period by 15 per cent.
"Lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer death in Australia and is the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer type," Mr Alcock said.
He also said that smoking rates among women are highest in those aged 25-29 years.
"Preventing youth from starting in the first place will be critical, if we are to reduce the prevalence of lung cancer in future Australians, particularly women."
Lung cancer kills 8000 Australians every year. Cancer Council NSW urges people to understand the signs and symptoms of lung cancer, as early diagnosis is vitally important in helping to treat the disease. Details on symptoms can be found at www.cancercouncil.com.au.
