‘How I knew I had lung cancer’: 5 survivors share their symptoms

Chest pain, shortness of breath and a persistent cough can all be symptoms of lung cancer.

But they can also be signs of other conditions, including heart problems, anemia and even a COVID-19 infection. 

So, how do you know when it’s time to call a doctor?

“Some lung cancer symptoms warrant immediate attention,” says thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon Ara Vaporciyan, M.D. “Others just need to be looked at within two or three weeks. A constant symptom is more of a problem than one that happens only for a short time and then resolves on its own. And combinations of symptoms are more concerning than one is by itself.” 

Here are the lung cancer symptoms that five of our patients noticed, in their own words.

Chest pain or pressure in the chest

“I started feeling some weird chest pains,” says Deborah Schroeder, who was 55 when she was diagnosed with stage I lung cancer. “When you’re young, you feel invincible. And later, you think it’s never going to happen to you. But I knew something was wrong, because up until then, I’d been pretty healthy.”

A nagging cough

Keegan Murphy, a medically retired firefighter and paramedic from rural Wisconsin, was 41 when he was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. 

“My first symptom was a dry cough that hung around after I recovered from a cold,” he recalls. “My wife asked me repeatedly to get it checked out. When I finally did, the doctor thought it might be pneumonia and prescribed steroids and an antibiotic.” 

“I just didn’t make the connection, even though I’d had a persistent cough for a few months, been losing weight without trying, felt a heaviness in my chest and even begun coughing up blood,” adds Leah Phillips, a Kentucky resident who was 43 when she was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. “I thought, ‘How can I possibly have lung cancer? I’ve never lived in a household with smokers, and I’ve never smoked anything myself.’” 

Shortness of breath

Ashley Stringer was only 34 when she was diagnosed with stage I lung cancer in 2017. 

“I began experiencing shortness of breath while exercising on a treadmill,” says the mother of two from Oklahoma. “I’d noticed commercials about COPD on TV, but thought I was too young to have a chronic condition like that. Still, I had a gut feeling that I needed to have it checked out.”

See a doctor immediately if you have any of these lung cancer symptoms

Some “red flag” symptoms of lung cancer warrant immediate attention.

“Sudden or worsening shortness of breath needs to be looked into pretty quickly,” says Vaporciyan. “It can be caused by many things other than cancer, including heart problems. The same goes for chest pain. You don’t want to wait on that.”

Other possible symptoms of lung cancer that demand prompt attention include:

• Coughing up blood or rust-colored phlegm
• A change in your cough that develops without other symptoms that typically accompany an infection (fever, chills, malaise, etc.)
• Chest pain that’s constant or made worse by laughing, coughing or exercising
• Weight loss (late-stage symptom)
• Neck or face swelling (very late-stage symptom)

“Many smokers have a chronic cough,” Vaporciyan explains, “but if you develop a new cough or a worse cough that doesn’t improve with antibiotics in a couple of weeks, I would request some sort of imaging. That goes for non-smokers, too, because lung cancer is being diagnosed more and more frequently among people who have never smoked or used tobacco products. And any time you cough up blood, that needs to be looked into promptly.”

Coughing up blood led to a stage II lung cancer diagnosis for Livingston resident Att Callahan.

“I was confused because I don’t smoke,” recalls Att, who was 70 at the time of her diagnosis. “I’m also not overweight, and I live a healthy lifestyle.”   

Lung cancer usually doesn’t generate a lot of blood, Vaporciyan notes. “So, you might not need to push your way to the front of the line. But you also don’t want to leave it for months on end,” he says. “I’d get it looked at within one to three weeks — especially if you have a history of smoking.”

If you’re a current or former smoker, you may be eligible for lung cancer screening. Use this lung screening calculator to find out. If you need help quitting, consider these resources.

Request an appointment at MD Anderson online or call 1-877-632-6789.