I am a lung cancer survivor. My cancer was discovered incidentally in a CT scan done for shortness of breath. Scanning was not yet widespread and, frankly, I wouldn't have met the profile because although I was a 30+ year smoker, I had stopped smoking 18 years before. I was diagnosed in February 2017 and I was 68 years old. As it turned out, my cancer was NSCLC and stage 1B. I had a lobectomy and no further treatment.
I have had regular scanning after that and I have had no evidence of disease for the last seven years. I will continue to be monitored, but I am convinced that early discovery of my cancer through the CT scan saved my life. I urge anybody I know who ever smoked to get scanned, especially if they are over 60 years old. This is really important!! Do it!