Patient Support and Information

Lung Foundation Australia provides information for Lung Cancer patients who may find it useful.

Lung cancer is a difficult disease to diagnose. Some people only discover it during a routine check-up, while others may have had signs and symptoms for many months.

Currently in Australia there is no screening for the early detection of lung cancer. It's important to discuss all symptoms with your doctor (symptoms may include: coughing up blood, breathlessness, chest pain, fatigue or weight loss).

Lung Cancer does not discriminate; it occurs most commonly in smokers, although these days approximately 50% of those diagnosed have either never smoked or are former smokers who stopped smoking many years before they were diagnosed .

For more information click on the following resources:

 What is Lung Cancer

Lung Foundation Australia has a Lung Cancer National Program and under this program are two groups that are useful for lung cancer patients. These are:

Kylie Johnston Lung Cancer Network (KJLCN)

The Kylie Johnston Lung Cancer Network (KJLCN) is the patient/carer initiative of Lung Foundation Australia, and aims to empower lung cancer patients, their families and carers with reliable and up to date information, with support and advocacy, no matter who they are and where they live.

To access a range of lung cancer patient resources and services, please go to www.kjlcn.org.au

KJLCN On line forum
The KJLCN On line forum provides lung cancer patients, their families and carers with the opportunity to connect with other people living with lung cancer via a moderated web based forum.

To register to the forum, go to www.kjlcn.org.au and click on the Online Forum button on the top right hand side of the homepage.

Once you have registered, you can read the posts that have been placed on the forum or submit your own post.  You can expect to hear back from other patients from around Australia who live with lung cancer.

KJLCN On-line Resource Directory

The On-line Resource Directory provides lung cancer patients, their families and carers with a comprehensive range of direct links to reliable information and resources available from Australian cancer organisations as well as several international lung cancer organisations.  These resources include booklets, fact sheets, webpages and videos.

If you or someone you love has lung cancer, the material available in this directory will help your understanding and allow you to make sense of what is happening.

This material compliments the Lung Cancer, Understanding, Managing, Living DVD, which is available here.

Australasian Lung cancer Trials Group (ALTG)

The Australasian Lung cancer Trials Group (ALTG) is Australia and New Zealand's lung and thoracic cancer clinical research group. The ALTG is a multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to reducing the incidence, morbidity and mortality of lung and other thoracic cancers and improving the quality of life of these patients, carers and families in Australia and New Zealand through the coordination and facilitation of high quality clinical research.

The ALTG collaborates with a number of organizations including the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre (CTC) and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Both of these groups are leaders in Australia for the design, conduct, analysis and publication of oncology clinical trials, including working with both Australia and international collaborative groups.

The specific objectives of the ALTG are:

Lung Cancer Telephone Support Groups