A Dundee woman has cheated death after doctors discovered a five centimetre lung tumour during what started out as no more than an experimental blood test.
Shirley Dolan, 58, felt fit and healthy when she signed up to a Dundee University study trying to detect early lung cancer.
Shirley, Macalpine Road, decided to donate a vial of blood after seeing members of her family die from cancer.
And she was left in fear for her life when her test results revealed the unknown tumour lurking in her lung.
Shirley said: “If it wasn’t for the study it would have been too late. It saved my life.
“I didn’t feel ill at all. I had no breathing problems and no issues and couldn’t believe it when it happened. It was scary at the time, just like you were on another planet.
“The tumour was 3-5cm, which was quite big, but it was still early enough to remove it. I probably wouldn’t have had too long before it was too late.
“Now I don’t need any chemotherapy. I’m clear because they removed it so early.”
Shirley, a health care assistant at Ninewells, was diagnosed with lung cancer in May and received surgery in July.
She added: “I would recommend people become involved with tests such as this. The cure at the moment is finding it early and getting it removed because there is no cure for it.”
For more on this story see The Courier or try our digital edition.