A Hoylake mum who lost both her dad and her 26-year-old daughter to cancer has spoken of her own incurable lung cancer diagnosis, saying "it changes your life completely. It also changes your outlook on life."
Chris Jones, 68, began losing weight unexpectedly and struggling to breathe while carrying out everyday tasks. She had had a cough since November 2024 after catching Covid, followed by a dry cough that "lasted for ages." In early 2025, she noticed she had lost weight, which she thought was "weird because it was just after Christmas and I wasn't on a diet."
Diagnosis after chest X-ray and CT scan
Chris visited her GP, who sent her for a chest X-ray at Clatterbridge Hospital in June last year. The X-ray revealed a build-up of fluid on her lungs, and she was sent for a CT scan at Arrowe Park the following day.
She said: "When I went to see the team the next week, because they needed to draw some of the fluid off, they were pretty sure there was some sort of malignancy. But I sort of knew before I was diagnosed. I suspected it when I started getting breathless, because it's so unusual for me."
Chris was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer, which was deemed incurable as it had already spread to her pleural cavity, the fluid-filled space surrounding her lungs.
Family history of cancer
The news came almost 10 years after the death of her eldest daughter, Alex, 26, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 and died in 2016. Chris, who owns the Churn & Chill gelato shop in Hoylake, said: "My eldest daughter was diagnosed in 2013 with breast cancer, and sadly she died in 2016. So we had been through the hospital side of things. So I wasn't shocked when they told me. I just accepted it.
"My daughters were really upset. It was really hard to speak about it with my family. It's easier to discuss it with people that aren't affected by it. It's upsetting talking to your own family, they get upset, and then you get upset."
Chris's dad died of lung cancer, and her grandad also suffered from the disease. She said: "Losing a family member to cancer is devastating. It changes your life completely. It also changes your outlook on life. We speak about the few years after Alex died, we can't even remember what we were doing. It was awful."
Treatment and the In Plain Sight campaign
Since last year, Chris has been on immunotherapy every three weeks, and in August she started on a vaccine trial. She said: "I have never asked about my prognosis. I know it is not curable. It's treatable, but not curable.
"I have moments of negativity about it. But on the whole I feel positive. I just hope that the treatment does work for me, because it doesn't work for everybody."
Lung cancer is 54% more common in Merseyside compared with the rest of England, and 25% more common in the wider North West, according to newly available data analysed by North West Cancer Research. The figures are behind the charity's latest campaign, In Plain Sight, which highlights the most common lung cancer symptoms that can often go unchecked.
Breathlessness, coughing up blood, ongoing tiredness, or a cough lasting more than three weeks are all warning signs, while unexplained weight loss and aches and pains can also be symptoms. As part of the campaign launch, North West Cancer Research created a nine-foot-tall installation featuring a pair of lungs at a community centre in Hulme.
Dr Serena Chee, Consultant Respiratory Physician at the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, said: "Knowing the warning signs of lung cancer and acting on them early can make a real difference.
"A persistent or changing cough, unexplained breathlessness, chest pain, coughing up blood or unexplained weight loss should not be ignored.
"Of course, these symptoms can have many causes, but getting them checked promptly gives us the best opportunity to diagnose lung cancer earlier, when treatment can be more effective and outcomes can be better."
Alastair Richards, CEO of North West Cancer Research, said: "We know that raising awareness of symptoms of any cancer can increase early detection and, ultimately, save lives.
"With lung cancer being 25% more prevalent in the North West, and this figure rising to 54% in Liverpool City Region, it's more important than ever for local people to know what to look for as, sometimes, symptoms can go unnoticed and can really hide 'in plain sight'.
"Our goal is to help create a world where future generations do not have to be given the devastating news that they have cancer and, through research projects and educational campaigns, I am confident we will get there.
"But, until then, it's essential that we look out for the symptoms and get to the doctor with any concerns, as it could save your life."
