Stigma is still an issue for State's biggest cancer killer

Breakthrough Cancer Research CEO Orla Dolan, lung cancer survivor Samantha Vaughan, minister for health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, and lung cancer survivor Gillian Ryan launch Ireland’s first White Ribbon for lung cancer at Leinster House, a powerful new symbol of hope and awareness. Picture: Maxwells

As CEO of Breakthrough Cancer Research, I have the privilege of meeting people living with cancer and their families. 

They share their hopes, their worries, their plans for birthdays and Christmases, and the ordinary days they want to get back to. 

Those conversations stay with me.

I also spend a lot of time looking at data. It is part of understanding where progress is happening and where it is not moving fast enough.

Some figures are tough to face: Survival rates that have not improved for certain cancers, rising incidence, and the reality that every community in Ireland is touched by loss.

One number lands with particular weight. Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in Ireland, responsible for one in five lives lost to cancer.

More than 2,500 people in Ireland will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year with a five-year net survival rate of only 25%. 

But there still remains a huge stigma around lung cancer.

For years, public health messaging about lung cancer focused almost exclusively on smoking prevention. 

That messaging and our ‘first in the world’ workplace smoking ban has saved, and continues to save, countless lives; we must acknowledge that. 

Over 80% of cases of lung cancer are linked to tobacco exposure. 

But it also left behind something unintended: a pervasive belief that lung cancer is self-inflicted, a disease only brought on by smoking. 

And because of that belief, many still assume that is the only way to get lung cancer. It isn’t.

The reality is that anyone with lungs can get lung cancer. Young people. Fit people. Never-smokers. People who have done “everything right.” 

Every week, I meet individuals who were blindsided not just by their diagnosis but by some reactions of others — the unspoken judgment. 

That judgment isolates people. It silences them. And silence can be deadly as it delays diagnosis, reduces support, and weakens public demand for the very research that could save lives.

That is why today, more than ever, we need a visible, national symbol to push back against that stigma — a symbol that says lung cancer matters, that people with lung cancer matter.

I am incredibly proud that Breakthrough Cancer Research is backing Ireland’s first White Ribbon for Lung Cancer, launched by two extraordinary survivors, Gillian Ryan and Samantha Vaughan. 

They are stepping forward not for their own sake, but to help the next person diagnosed — and the one after that. 

It stands for visibility, solidarity, and hope backed by action.

Every single euro raised through the White Ribbon campaign will directly fund the cutting-edge research we are driving forward — research to create smarter, kinder, more effective treatments and better diagnostics that can catch lung cancer earlier, when it is most treatable. 

This is not a symbolic campaign; it is a lifeline.

The mission of Breakthrough Cancer Research is simple but ambitious: To make more survivors. 

We focus on the cancers that currently have the lowest survival rates — lung, ovarian, pancreatic, stomach, brain, liver, and oesophageal cancers — because these are the areas that haven’t seen the same investment as other cancers and where research can have the greatest impact —where patients urgently need better options. 

Samantha Vaughan and Gillian Ryan at a ball hosted by Breakthrough Cancer Research in 2024.

We work with scientists, clinicians, people with cancer and their families nationwide to ensure the discoveries made in laboratories move swiftly into clinical trials and, ultimately, into the hands of those who need them.

I often say that research is hope you can hold in your hands. But research doesn’t happen in silence or in the shadows. It happens when a community stands together and says “This matters enough to fight for.” 

The White Ribbon for Lung Cancer is small, but its power lies in its visibility. 

When people see it, they ask questions. Those questions open conversations. Conversations shift understanding. And understanding leads to change. 

Imagine a future where no one feels ashamed to talk about their diagnosis. Where people present earlier because they know the symptoms and feel safe seeking help. Where survival is not determined by the type of cancer someone happens to develop.

That future is possible. And it starts with something as small, and yet as meaningful, as a ribbon. 

So, I am asking people to stand with us — wear the White Ribbon. Start the conversation. Break the silence. Let Samantha and Gillian’s courage and determination move us toward a country where lung cancer receives the attention, compassion, and research investment it has long been denied.

Because at Breakthrough Cancer Research, we believe in a world where 100% survival is not a dream, but a destination. And every step toward that future matters.

The White Ribbon for Lung Cancer is available at breakthroughcancerresearch.ie and at outlets across the country. I hope you’ll wear it with pride — for the people diagnosed today, for the people we’ve lost, and for the future we can build together.

Orla Dolan is CEO of Cork-based charity Breakthrough Cancer Research.