More than 48,000 cases of lung cancer were diagnosed in the UK in the three years between 2016 and 2018, according to Cancer Research UK. The symptoms of lung cancer usually don’t show up until the dangerous cells have spread throughout the body. But there are ways that you could be able to spot early symptoms of the illness. Symptoms experienced by many people with lung cancer include a shortness of breath, wheezing or having a persistent cough with blood or phlegm.