Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease awareness crucial

TOORA resident Sheryl is determined to boost awareness of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and encourage those affected to seek available support.

“We need a whole lot more funding so we can get leaflets out to every doctor’s surgery,” she said, also mentioning she is working on creating a podcast on the condition to boost awareness.

“Something more needs to be done in regional areas,” Sheryl said, noting farmers are often subject to lung conditions, with pesticides, herbicides and dust contributing factors, and tend not to look after themselves.

Sheryl has emphysema, explaining that COPD is an umbrella term with specific diseases underlying it, either emphysema or chronic bronchitis.

Along with the general lack of community awareness about COPD, she stressed that many people who have it are unaware of which underlying condition is responsible.

Diagnosed in 2014 and having seen her grandfather die from the condition aged just 56, Sheryl, now 67, feared she had only about three years to live.

Heeding advice from her doctor to call Lung Foundation Australia was a critical decision.

“Come on, we can be proactive in this, you can live until you’re 80 or 90,” was the message she received through the Lung Foundation.

Sheryl spoke of contacting the organisation and the encouragement she received from a nurse there.

“She followed me through; every two months she would give me a call, and she would say, ‘What have you done over the last couple of months?’ and I would tell her I’ve changed my diet a bit, I’m not going to those places anymore, I’m being a bit more organised.”

“If it wasn’t for the Lung Foundation, and her, I don’t know what I would have done; I would have kept on thinking I was going to die and I wouldn’t have had the injections and I would be wheezing.”

While there is no cure, Sheryl was set to have a new type of injection shortly after speaking to Sentinel-Times, hopeful it will significantly reduce her symptoms and improve her quality of life.

Sheryl’s story is timely following the recent PBS listing of NUCALA (mepolizumab), the first biologic treatment subsidised in Australia for eligible adults with uncontrolled COPD.  

An estimated 137,700 Victorians lived with COPD as of the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2022 National Health Survey.

While generally able to manage her own medicine and get by with e health appointments and care workers, Sheryl spoke of a recent incident and her inability to obtain required support in her regional location.

Experiencing a severe flare up, she took cortisone, then called to request a visit from a nurse to check her oxygen level and whether she needed to go to hospital.

She was told, “Oh, we don’t do that,” despite the relevant website saying the service looks after people with respiratory problems.

Sheryl was simply told to go and see the doctor but was unable to get as far as her kitchen, let alone the doctor’s surgery.

While that has caused anxiety and is something she intends to follow up, there are also positive experiences.

Sheryl praised her wonderful support workers who check on her and help with tasks her condition doesn’t enable her to tackle around the house such as making her bed.

At her most unwell, Sheryl could barely walk three metres without becoming breathless and experienced frequent hospitalisations, with her former husband once having to perform CPR.

She receives daily assistance from a care worker but remains focused on living a purposeful life, including breeding dogs, which she says supports her emotional wellbeing.