A pensioner who is supporting an awareness campaign after beating lung cancer has been nominated as Community Champion.

June Jinman, 81, was a smoker for more than 50 years and, despite quitting three years earlier, the habit caught up with her when she had cancer diagnosed five years ago.

Miss Jinman, of Church Road, Upper Norwood, first became concerned when she began coughing up small specks of blood. A check with her GP led to a referral to Croydon University Hospital.

She said: “They caught it early. I was transported to St George’s and they operated on my left lung. “I then had two weeks recovering before I was allowed to go home. I was very lucky.”

Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer in the UK with 33,000 people affected nationally, 3,500 in London. A cough that lasts for three weeks is the focus of a new campaign to increase awareness of the key symptoms of lung cancer and improve earlier diagnosis in London.

Miss Jinman revealed quitting smoking could have been pivotal to her surviving.

She said: “The area inside the lungs was crusted over and hadn’t spread as quickly, which allowed them to cut it out. “When I began [smoking] it was glamorous – everyone was doing it and we had no idea about the health implications.

“It was actually the cost that made me quit but it saved my life. People who start now need to think. Everyone knows what it does.”

Every week we feature some of Croydon’s heroes on this page and we want your nominations.

All nominees will be shortlisted and invited to an awards ceremony in November. You can nominate using the form or at croydonguardian. co.uk/croydonchampions.