Campaign aims to highlight Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

For 40 years, Angela Shakil smoked 40 cigarettes a day. She was “fit as a fiddle” until she contracted bronchitis which she could not shift. After being diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) her life has changed dramatically.

COPD is the fourth most common cause of death in Ireland after lung cancer, heart disease and stroke. In fact, Ireland has amongst the highest rates of death from COPD in Europe with almost 2,000 people dying from the disease last year in 2014.

For 56-year-old Angela Shakil from Bray, being diagnosed last May after years of perfect health left her “devastated”. Her life has gone from being one where she was “full of energy” to one where the most basic tasks like carrying shopping, making a bed and even a gentle walk leave her exhausted.

“I smoked 40 a day for 40 years but I never had a smokers’ cough, never suffered any breathlessness. I thought I was getting away with it. Then I had a series of attacks of bronchitis which would never fully clear. My GP sent me to hospital to see if there was any underlying reason and that’s when I found out. I was devastated.”

Now, even the most simple of tasks leave her spent. Angela describes the feeling as like “trying to breathe around a rugby ball stuck in your throat”. Without a medical card, the costs associated with the disease can be prohibitive.

“COPD isn’t on the list of things covered by a medical card. I have made enquiries about a discretionary medical card but they tell me there is no chance until you are on oxygen which is too late. I have two steroid inhalers to maintain my lungs at current capacity. However, if it’s a choice between your mortgage or your inhalers, you have to pay your mortgage,” says Angela.

Today is World COPD Day and COPD Support Ireland, the national umbrella body for local COPD support groups, has just launched its annual “Save Your Breath” campaign and set out five key pledges it is urging political parties to sign up to ahead of the next general election. These are:

• COPD spirometry screening to be made publicly available to high-risk groups—people who are over 35 years and have symptoms of persistent breathlessness, coughing with phlegm and chest infections, are current or former smokers, or who have a family history of lung conditions.
• Pulmonary rehabilitation exercise programmes to be made available in all acute hospitals, due to the clear patient benefits evidenced.
• COPD outreach programmes to be offered by all acute hospitals, ensuring patients are treated at home where appropriate.
• Medical cards: greater access needs to be provided for people with COPD in recognition of the significant health cost burden incurred.
• National free phone helpline to be established for people with COPD to access information and advice from trained health professionals.