A MAN from the region is the face of a national fundraising campaign launched by Dame Judi Dench this weekend.

Dame Judi is making an appeal on national radio on Sunday on behalf of the British Lung Foundation (BLF) to find the “missing millions” of people with a lung disease called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

It includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis and is the UK’s fifth biggest killer.

She will urge people to help save the lives of people with COPD by donating £25, which can help to pay for a lung test for two people.

The BLF wants to raise £1m to help find some of the estimated 2.8m people across the UK that have this life-threatening condition but don’t know it.

Images of Ken Smith, a father- of-three from Darlington, who served on three tours of Northern Ireland with the British Army in the Seventies, feature in the BLF’s appeal literature.

Mr Smith, 59, was as an electrician at a Darlington coachbuilding company until he was forced to stop working because of ill health three years ago.

He was diagnosed with COPD in 1999, but it is only recently that he has benefited from advice from the BLF helpline.

After telling his consultant he was struggling to breathe and was feeling depressed after he lost his job, the specialist said Mr Smith should contact the BLF.

He was hugely impressed at the support he received from the BLF helpline, which recommended a counselling service and arranged for someone to call him once a week.

He said: “Before I spoke to the helpline, I felt isolated, depressed and alone. The BLF brought me back from the brink with their help, support and kindness.”

He enjoys nature photography, and his wife, Susan, has adapted a shopping trolley to carry his photographic equipment and oxygen cylinder so he can still pursue his hobby.

To donate, go to lunguk.

org/radio4 or listen to the appeal at bbc.co.uk/radio4/ appeal ■ Read Mr Smith’s full story in The Northern Echo on Monday.