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Auckland District Health Board is changing its visitor policy after nurses accused them of playing “Russian roulette” with patient and staff safety.The Herald can reveal visitors will only be able to enter Auckland City Hospital…

Auckland suffers from a lack of long-term ambition regarding its transport system.The mistakes of the past are being repeated. The fixation on light rail down Dominion Road exemplifies the point.I was once a director of Auckland…

An RSE worker diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in New Zealand is stuck in limbo, having made the decision to return to the Solomon Islands, only to find lockdown rules have prevented her from doing so.Margaret Lilo, 29,…

A woman who travelled to Auckland to collect her mother’s casket says she is emotionally distraught after being denied entry at the border to return to Waihi for the funeral.Teresa King’s 90-year-old mother died last Friday, September…

While Auckland’s time in level 4 has been extended for another week, business owners are feeling the pressure.Auckland will remain at level 4 for another week, until 11.59pm on Tuesday September 21. Cabinet has made an in-principle…

A Hawke’s Bay woman celebrating her birthday danced around the room with her family and close friend after realising she had won a $1 million in Lotto First Division.The woman, who has asked to remain anonymous, said Saturday night…

Test your brains with the Herald’s afternoon quiz. Be sure to check back on nzherald.co.nz for the morning quiz tomorrow. To challenge yourself with more quizzes, CLICK HERE.

When Georgia Smith started feeling overly tired, she put it down to jet lag related to her job as an international flight attendant.

She was flying around the world to destinations including Hawaii, Singapore and Hong Kong for a national airline – plus was a busy mum of two.

And while the 49-year old from Sydney's Northern Beaches had a cough and noticed she seemed more out of breath than usual while doing her high intensity fitness classes, she shrugged those symptoms off too.

READ MORE: 'It's stark': Woman diagnosed with breast and lung cancer in the same year describes the contrast between how she was treated

It was only when she mentioned them to her GP at a routine appointment, that she discovered that she actually was drastically ill.

The x-ray the GP sent her for, showed she had lung cancer.

"It was a complete shock," she told nine.com.au.

"It was the last thing on my mind.

"I was tired and I was skinny but I put that down to running around after the kids, shift work, going to the gym doing high energy classes and the jet lag."

READ MORE: Non-smoker diagnosed with lung cancer at 22 backs hard-hitting anti-stigma campaign

READ MORE: Plea for more specialised nurses for Australia's biggest cancer killer

Mrs Smith was sent on to specialists who confirmed the details with more tests.

She was told she had a tumour in her left lung.

She admits she struggled with the news – and telling her children, Bonnie, 12, and Tully, 14 , was "devastating."

"I spiralled down," she said.

"For six months I was trying to pick myself up."

However, Mrs Smith soon began multiple treatments including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery and immunotherapy.

While her cancer is now classed as stage 4, it has not spread beyond her lungs.

And thanks to daily medication, known as targeted therapy, her prognosis is now brighter.

Targeted therapy is type of drug treatment that attacks specific features of cancer cells, known as molecular targets, to stop the cancer growing and spreading, according to the Cancer Council. But it doesn't work for everybody.

"I'm living with it, and I want to be a survivor," Mrs Smith said.

"I've gone from curable to terminal to treatable.

"My prognosis now is good."

Mrs Smith is part of a new campaign urging people to seek help if they have any lung cancer symptoms, such as a cough.

'What if your cough isn't just a cough?' has been launched by Lung Foundation Australia.

Its research shows one in three Aussies would not act on a new, persistent cough lasting more than three weeks- a key symptom of lung cancer.

Early diagnosis is key to treating Australia's biggest cancer killer.

Lung Foundation Australia boss, Mark Brooke, said early lung cancer symptoms can be easy to miss, but early diagnosis is critical.

READ MORE: Call for ban on flavoured vapes popular with young Australians

https://twitter.com/Lungfoundation/status/1435426910427746304

"A cough is only one of a number of potential symptoms of lung cancer. Others include breathlessness, fatigue, pain in the chest, coughing up blood, and weight loss," he said.

"If you notice any new, persistent or changed symptoms speak to your GP.

"This is particularly important if you have any risk factors such as history of smoking, occupation exposure to asbestos, dust or chemicals, or if you are aged over 40."

Mrs Smith urged people not to ignore such symptoms, and to push for tests like x-rays.

"I just want to save one person," she said.

"If you don't ask, you don't get.

"The earlier this is diagnosed, the better the outcomes will be."

She also has a message for people who think lung cancer only affects smokers or former smokers.

One in three women and one in 10 men diagnosed have never smoked, according to the Lung Foundation Australia

"Anyone with lungs can get lung cancer," she said.

Mrs Smith is now hoping international travel put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic will resume soon so she can return to the job she loves.

"I miss it so much," she said.

Lung Cancer Facts

Lung cancer kills more Australians than any other type of cancer.

Less than 20 per cent of patients are alive five years after diagnosis, but being diagnosed early can make a huge difference.

Lung cancer received less than a quarter of the funding cash given to breast and colon cancer research between 2011 and 2016, according to Cancer Australia.

One in three women and one in 10 men diagnosed have never smoked, according to the Lung Foundation Australia, but the disease still carries a stigma.

Lung cancer or lung disease symptoms

• Persistent or unexplained cough which lasts more than three weeks, or changes to an existing cough

• Breathlessness

• Coughing up blood

• Fatigue

• Weight loss

• Chest pain

• Voice hoarseness

Contact journalist Sarah Swain: Ss****@******om.au

North Korea claimed it successfully test-fired new long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, according to the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The report, dated Monday, said the country's Academy of Defence Science successfully test-fired the missiles on September 11 and 12, and that the weapons had been in development for two years.

The weapons demonstrate "another effective deterrence means for more reliably guaranteeing the security of our state and strongly containing the military manoeuvres of the hostile forces against the DPRK," the agency said.

READ MORE: FBI releases first 9/11 document after Biden order

The US and neighbouring South Korea are looking into the launch claims, officials in both countries told CNN.

"Cruise missiles are often detected after the tests are conducted for their low flight altitudes," a South Korean Defence Ministry official also said.

"North Korea had conducted two cruise missile tests already this year, but we did not disclose them as we do not disclose all cruise missile tests we detect."

The North Korean launch announcement came just as South Korea's top nuclear envoy headed to Japan to discuss North Korea with US and Japanese officials on Monday and Tuesday.

READ MORE: Man's life turned upside down with prize home win

Multiple UN Security Council resolutions have expressed concern about North Korea's ballistic missile program. However, such resolutions have not focused on the development or testing of cruise missiles.

Unlike ballistic missiles, cruise missiles are propelled by jet engines. Much like an airplane, they stay closer to the ground, making them harder to detect.

According to KCNA, the new missiles travelled for 7,580 seconds along oval and figure-eight flight orbits in the air above the territorial land and waters of North Korea and hit targets 1,500 kilometres away.

"This is a system that can reach targets throughout Japan," said Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies who specialises in open-source intelligence.

"Whereas the system we saw in March was a shorter range system just to target South Korea."

Mr Lewis was referencing a series of North Korean missile tests earlier this year where Pyongyang test-fired a missile that flew 450 kilometres.

"It's a technical achievement for them," Mr Lewis told CNN, but added that the test was "totally expected."

"It was very clear they were going to test something, and this was clearly on the list," he said.

North Korea's earlier test launches this year were widely seen as attempts to send a message to the Biden administration about the isolated country's importance in the region.

North Korea has shown off new and untested weaponry in its military parades over the last few months. The US anticipated that some of this would eventually be tested in a show of strength by North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong Un.

The North Korean leader's sister, Kim Yo Jong, had warned last month that the country would respond to joint military exercises between the US and South Korea, which would "face a more serious security threat" for ignoring repeated warnings against the drills.

Late last month, the US also approved the sale of USD$350 million of precision guided munitions and related equipment to South Korea.