A SUPPORT group will help raise awareness about lung disease in Edgware today.

Breathe Easy Barnet is hosting a stand at the Broadwalk shopping centre, in Station Road, and will provide information on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

COPD is an umbrella term for a number of conditions including chronic bronchitis and emphysema and although it is irreversible, it is both preventable and treatable.

The lung disease currently kills more men than prostate cancer, and more women than breast cancer, every year.

Hendon MP Matthew Offord will visit the stand at around 10am, while Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Anthony Finn and his wife, Mayoress Anita Finn will also attend at midday.

The group, which has joined forces with the British Lung Foundation’s Love your Lungs campaign, will hand out leaflets on COPD.

A nurse will also be on hand to offer tests to check for the illness.

Ray Woods of Breathe Easy Barnet, said: "There are nearly three million people out there who might have the disease and we want to catch them early enough so they can be treated."

Symptoms of COPD include a persistent cough, wheezy chest and recurrent chest infections.

For more information contact Mr Woods on 07861 208 776 or Mandy Goodman on 0208 731 8669.