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Pope Leo XIV is making progress in his recovery after surgery for lung cancer, as his diagnosis sheds new light on the disease and the importance of screening.
Vatican officials said the Pope had been walking in his hospital room and eating normally after surgery.
For MaryAnn Bradley, a lung cancer survivor at St. Catharines, Ontario, Pope’s diagnosis has special significance. Bradley said he underwent the same surgery after being diagnosed with adenocarcinoma.
“So the Pope and I have something in common. I had the same surgery,” Bradley told Global News. “I had a right upper lobectomy and it was diagnosed as adenocarcinoma, the same as the Pope.”
Dr Natasha Leighl, a medical oncologist at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, said the procedure involved removing one of the Pope’s five lung lobes. “There’s three on the right, two on the left,” Leighl said.
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Leighl said lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canada, with nearly 33,000 Canadians expected to be diagnosed this year.
Signs and symptoms can include a persistent cough, shortness of breath, coughing up blood and chest pain, according to public health information cited in the text.
Doctors say early screening is the best way to improve a person’s chances.
Dr. Rosalyn Juergens, president of Lung Cancer Canada, said lung cancer screening involves a low-dose CT scan, which is done to reduce the risk of radiation.
Juergens said current screening focuses on people who are considered high risk based on their smoking history, including whether they have ever smoked and how much they smoked over a certain period of time.
Bradley urged people concerned about their health not to delay consulting a doctor.
“Please don’t wait,” he said. “Women tend to wait because we have children. Our lives are busy, because we work full time. Please don’t ignore (the signs).”
Bradley hopes the Pope’s openness about his diagnosis will help raise awareness about lung cancer around the world.
Bradley added that he believes the Pope’s lung cancer diagnosis helped save lives by drawing attention to the disease.
