I'm sure most of us have seen them, Adverts from Cancer UK, Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, and every cancer you can think of plus The British Hear Foundation, not to mention Water Aid, Save the Children, NSPCC, RSPCA, and all the others most with a famous TV star or Movie star fronting for them to raise money for research, Together we will beat cancer or with our help they can drink clean water, and stop this cruelty now but when was the last time you saw an advert on the TV from the BLF, where is the big TV star/Movie star stepping up to raise finds for those of us with COPD ? Where is the TV campaign from BLF to raise funds for research and find a cure for us ?
There are no adverts to raise money for trials in to a cure for us, we want to live, we want to get better, why are we just written off and swept under the carpet ? We are told to exercise, eat the right foods, use the inhalers but what about a cure ? I think we would be just as well off going to see a local witch doctor, in fact have times moved on at all for us people with lung health problems ? HIV popped it's head up a while ago, billions of dollars and pounds has been spent on finding a cure !! Cancer gets billions spent on research and not all of it is private. Why do BLF not raise awareness for our plight ???? Are we third rate citizens and all grouped as `They are smokers or ex-smokers so who cares, let them take the stuff we dole out, tell them that's the best we can do and they will have to like it or lump it` When is the real research going to start to find a cure for us ? When will we get the big money and the big stars backing us for the cure and when will we be treated like the cancer and the HIV sufferers ? When will we be given real hope of a cure ??
Rant over ,but it does make me so angry when I see all these adverts and then realise nobody is advertising about us or fighting for a cure for us !!!
Written by
PeterK1
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I agree with you. I did hear that Spock (Leonard Nimoy) has copd and is busy raising the profile at the moment. Hopefully if more well known people get lung diseases and come forward it might become 'fashionable'! x
In your previous post, you were moaning about the wages BLF pay out now you want them to spend fortunes on a TV advertising campaign with big named starts. Certainly confused about your view point here. Have you any idea of the cost of making a 30 second advert and then the costs of showing it on prime time TV and a prime hour? It would certainly be more than their total wages bil and leave nothing in the kitty for research.
Hi CornishBrian, So how much does a 30 second advert cost ? It's obvious that it's not that expensive in reality, the British Heart Foundation can afford it, and the Water Aid, RSPCA, NSPCC and so on,
so are the BLF so far behind all the others financially ? How long have Lung Diseases been around ? Miners Lung from the coal pits, and lots of other things, Victorian chimney sweeps with soot on their lungs, pigeon keepers, budgie keepers, and smokers.
Heart disease is a problem for smokers and ex-smokers, it has a big public profile, not shunted out of the way as not curable. The heart can not heal itself, stents, bypasses, new valves, pace makers, all cost a lot of money and a lot of research and advertising is done to fix heart problems, smoking related or not !! Adverts on prime time TV cost money but hey if you have a bad heart it's worth spending some money to raise more money. If your lungs are diseased they do not put an advert on prime time TV to find a cure or raise more money, but they tell you to eat grapefruit and bananas, have some fish and eat more cheese.
How long are we all (and ALL is a lot these days) going to sit about and let them dole out this crap to us, there are options out there that are more productive than for us than eating bananas so why are they not offered to more people ?
Hello Peter The charities you mention tug the heart strings in their advertisements, how would a BLF advert have the same effect. A child with asthma struggling to breath would pull mine but I wonder what else. Any ideas? xx
Hi PeterK1, you sound quite frustrated by the lack of funds for research into lung disease. As you say these diseases have been around a long time, I feel the fact that they are not curable is one reason for poor support for sufferers as chronic illness is expensive to treat as it is long term. These illnesses are not all the product of smoking either are they? Air pollution is another cause as is car emissions. This is a very emotive subject maybe one day soon we will get a famous backer, many cancers are not curable but a lot of money is spent on research, treatment and support for speedy action, as well as mass publicity, in fact in many hospitals cancer always takes priority, but Lung diseases like COPD, heart conditions and Asthma kill just as many people and cannot be removed from your body like cancer tumours can. Sorry this is how I feel about it even if it does sound a bit cruel in respect of cancer. I am very much a believer in equal treatment, research ect and as said Lung disease is not on par with other illnesses either in treatment, research or cure.
I remember Roy Castle going round the country talking about lung cancer....but it was all about not smoking. There are other diseases that don't get mentioned...they just aren't fashionable. My sister died of pancreatic cancer and there just wasn't any help for her...perhaps if she had breast cancer she would have had a chance. It is difficult, and must be sooooo difficult for the research clinics and companies. I don't think we will see much change in outlook these next few years. I am very grateful for the clinic I went to and now this group to "talk" and "listen" to
You have raised some very valid points Peter and I completely understand your frustration. There is some cutting edge research coming from abroad but it does appear (and I would be more than happy to be factually corrected) that home grown research is lagging behind. I do agree that the presumption among the medical profession is that COPD is only caused by smoking and therefore we should be entirely grateful that they even speak to us. I read, time and again, of people apologising for having smoked or for still smoking with lung conditions and I firmly believe that the rot starts there.
The cure as been around for 50 years . That was when the first awareness of lung disease caused by smoking was brought to the attention of the general public.
Me and thousand of others chose to ignore the advice given, what where we thinking , that we are immune regrettable we know now the reality of our choice.
With lung cancer which is a tumour caught early can be reversed.
With COPD irrespective when diagnosed can only be slowed down,
With the advancement in surgery developed from cancer research , in the future they be able to safely remove damage lung sections at a early stage.
As copd is now such a massive problem esp in the us I am hopeful that more & more drugs/treatments/ etc will be developed. Stem cell research & lung regeneration are 2 areas being looked into. It most probably will be too late for me, but I am truly hopeful & believe that we will have more ways to tackle copd.
People are already living longer than they would have before with the help that we do get. I myself should never be live today if progress had not been made in medical research
We all have to hope & in the meantime do every thing we can to slow the progress of the disease in our bodies
I just happened to mention about TV ads in the " BLF and money " topic. I do agree with you. The only time I've seen BLF on TV is some poster on a wall in Doctors and another programme.
The recent cancer campaign said if you've been coughing too much go and get checked out by your doctor in case you have lung cancer. No mention that you might have COPD.
I do sympathise with people's frustration. But dismissing other diseases/conditions isn't helpful. 3 years ago, I was diagnosed with lung cancer and knew at that moment that I had slightly better than a 1 in 4 chance of being alive a year later - and an 8% chance of being alive 5 years later. In fact, I was one of the lucky minority as I was able to have surgery - but living with only one lung isn't as easy as some people in this forum seem to think and, of course, as it's an aggressive cancer, it very often returns, even after surgery, (to the brain, liver or bones, usually). I've now been diagnosed with COPD in my remaining lung and can assure you that there's no reason to think lung cancer is less of a problem than COPD. We should be hoping that all lung disease is treated seriously - and recognising that many other conditions are just as awful. (And, by the way, the ads re lung cancer have only appeared very recently - how many people know that lung cancer kills more women than breast cancer does?)
hi peterk1,I totally agree with every word you say,we are all classed as people who have brought this illnness upon ourselves,however mine has been passed down through the family,(Bronchiectasis) I was not diagnosed until I reached retirement age of 60,even though in my childhood and my youth I had tuberculosis and a collapsed lung.Yes I admit I smoked for a good 20 years or so and of course that didnt help.so Ive been lumped with the copd "tag"and yes just like you and all our many friends we "dont deserve to be treated with respect,because we brought it upon ourselves".maybe one day some-one will realise we didnt set out to kill ourselves deliberately.xxx
This might be worth checking out. All the charities you mention have substantially bigger resources than the BLF. Those ads are part of multi-million pound advertising campaigns that an org of the BLF's size just can't commit to.
So maybe the Fat Cats at BLF should take a wage cut and get BLF on the TV then after the increase in income they could justify their high wages and go back on to the higher wages. Would only take a year or two to raise the BLF Public Profile, then claim the big bucks as salaries.
Hi all, I have ideopathic pulmonary disease. I smoked, I worked in the coal industry for 10 years, 3 years underground. My Consultant tells me that this has not caused my IPF, No one knows the cause, I was initially diagnosed with COPD, a good few years ago now,and put on Salbutamol, spiriva and symbicort. I tried to claim from the Coal Industry, But after a year of tests and such they told me i didn't have COPD. My GP kept me on inhalers, nothing changed. After a bad chest infection and chest pain I sent to a lung specialist who after CT scan etc diagnosed IPF. All the inhalers have gone, I am on O2 15 hours 2lpm and ambulatory 4lpm. I read on the forum about how good Brompton Hospital is, but has anyone with IPF actually improved by going there?
Thank you for all your comments. Unfortunately TV advertising is very expensive and would use up large parts of the BLF budgets that permit us to support patients, campaign and invest in research, as well as pay the staff who enable us to do all three.
Raising money from TV advertising can also be very difficult and risky. However, though TV advertising is not right for us at present, this does not mean that we won’t look into the possibility of doing it in the future when budgets allow and the time is right.
We do have some exciting projects coming up and if any of you are on Twitter please do look out for our partnership with Virgin Balloons in July and August and help us spread the word - you can also stay up to date with our activities on our Facebook.
Hi mark, sorry to but in on your conversation, recently been diagnosed with severe emphysema and know more now from this site I hasten to add, than I ever did before. I smoked, Gov took the taxes, there doesn't seem to be very much out there to describe to people COPD & Emphysema symptoms and the effect on ones life, I'm sure if people were more aware it would help them understand not only does smoking kill it stops you living life! Or have I just missed it all in my once previous cosy normal breath easy world?
Hi bryju124, I'm sorry but how can you honestly say, that there is not enough awareness, to the effects of smoking. I am an ex smoker with copd and lung damage caused by lupus. Admittedly, when i started smoking, cigarettes were advertised on TV. Over the years, I have been nagged, repeatedly, by medics to quit. All my family were smokers and I have watched them die of lung issues. My dad, died last year. He was on oxygen, 24/7, and I still smoked.
I am all for raising money for research. Lupus, is a very misunderstood disease which kills, as do lung conditions. But every time I hear, "we need to educate people about the risks", it drives me batty !!!! I think too much money is spent on this. Seriously, who doesn't know about the bad with, smoking, obesity, drug abuse, and even, safe sex......as for favourites, ie cancer, Alzheimer's, seems to be the popular one now. We know it is because, many celebs, have it. Same with aids, and Freddie mercury. I'm sorry for the rant but, I do feel strongly about this. Money should be spent on finding a cure, or improving the quality of life, for ALL, sufferers, of ALL, non curable, conditions.
Hi 6161, I'm not saying it isn't however since I gave been ill my friends and colleagues were totally unaware of the effects of copd and emph and were so shocked it has made them take the decision to pack in smoking, I'm all for money going to research however I do believe they should be able to describe and show in schools and colleges and for the general public the effects of both of these illness' not just the end result, I didn't know anything about them until I became Ill myself, all the websites scare the living day lights out if you so thank god for this site, found by accident. I agree plenty of ads out for the reasons to stop smoking mainly cancerous and I too chose to continue to smoke (packed in ten years ago) however not enough about the copd and emph killers, I understand what you are saying and thank you for your response
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