Seamus Cotter from Galway is 54 and was diagnosed with lung cancer, eight years ago.
He is also the Chairman of the Irish Lung Cancer Community.
Seamus said he had been a smoker but had given up smoking for many years, before he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in 2016.
He said he was very lucky to get enrolled on a clinical trial for immunotherapy in Galway University Hospital.
His treatment involved a mix of two different immunotherapy drugs.
Seamus said he went to Galway every week for two years for treatment.
He said he was very lucky because he had his first clear scan after just eight months and this has continued since.
He said he is very well and healthy now.
Seamus said the new research programme announced today is huge and the investment is phenomenal and will be a shift in focus for the lung cancer community.
He said that by detecting lung cancer early, a lot of people will get better treatment, more treatment options and those treatments will be more likely to be successful.
€4.9m lung cancer research programme launched
A €4.9m lung cancer research programme funded by the Irish Cancer Society has been launched.
The society said the programme marks its biggest single investment in the area of lung cancer.
The initiative is being led by the Beaumont RCSI Cancer Centre with the aim of transforming lung cancer care and research.
The six-year programme will see the introduction of the 'Beaumont RCSI Irish Cancer Society Lung Health Check'.
This clinical trial will be in collaboration with specific GP practices in north Dublin and the northeast region and will invite high-risk individuals to attend community-based mobile scanning units for lung health checks.
It will particularly target those aged between 55 - 74 years and current and former smokers.
The programme will also use rapid blood tests to determine best treatment options, new research will test immunotherapies to treat patients with a specific kind of lung cancer called (KRAS-mutant) which is challenging to treat.
The programme has been devised and will be led by Professor Jarushka Naidoo, Professor of Medical Oncology RCSI University of Medicine and Health Science and consultant medical oncologist at Beaumont RCSI Cancer Centre.
Irish Cancer Society CEO Averil Power said it was a historic investment by the society marking a turning point for lunch cancer here.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths here.
Most people with lung cancer are diagnosed at a late stage and the research hopes to contribute to improving earlier diagnosis and treatment.
'Jewel in the crown'
Professor Naidoo described the project as a "groundbreaking investment".
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said the lung health check was the "jewel in the crown of the programme".
"It is a small and efficient pilot in which we aim to identify participants in the north Dublin and the northeast area, who are at high risk for lung cancer based on a risk scorecard," she said.
Professor Naidoo explained that partnering GP’s select patients based on risk factors, including smoking, family history and other lung conditions.
They are then invited to take part in the screening project, she added.
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Professor Naidoo said that lung health checks are more difficult to conduct than other cancer screening programmes.
"They’re a little bit more complicated and they’re a full NCT of the lung," she said.
"So, they incorporate a breath test, usually some advice around smoking cessation and lifestyle advice and they end with a CT scan," she added.
Prof Naidoo said she hoped that bringing the project to communities in the form of a mobile unit will improve testing accessibility.
She said hopefully "we can do this pilot and do our best for lung cancer as we have done with other cancers".
The professor said lower cancer mortality rates in recent years "directly relates" to improvements in lung cancer as it is such a common form of cancer.
She said that based on data from the EU in 2021, Ireland has the second highest rate of lung cancer-related deaths, similar to Norway and Denmark.
"It is programmes exactly like this that will act as the catalyst for change," she added.
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