I have been following the story of breast cancer sufferer Ann Marie Rogers. Mum of three Ann, has gone to the Court of Appeal and won her battle to be given the drug Herceptin free of charge after being initially refused the treatment by her local health authority. Herception is one of a new generation of targeted treatments which can attack only cancer cells and is tolerated much better than chemotherapy. The drug is currently only used on patients with advanced breast cancer in this country, but can be used on other patients at the doctors’ “discretion”. Research from America has shown that Herceptin can help patients in the early stages of breast cancer but many health authorities say they will only fund treatment in exceptional cases.
Ann likened the refusal of Herceptin treatment to being given a “death sentence”. Brave Ann has now paved the way for other women suffering from breast cancer to be given the drug as well. I think it’s disgusting in this day and age that people have to fight like this for the right to life, which is what it amounts to really. Getting certain types of treatment in this country is almost like a lottery and dependant on what area of the country you live in and if your health authority can “afford” it. Every individual in this country, man, woman and child, deserves the right to life and no health authority or government can put a price tag on that. They have no right to play God. Singer Kylie Minogue, herself a breast cancer sufferer, has also backed the campaign for all women to be given Herceptin.
After the court ruling Ann Marie said that she felt like she had “won the lottery”. "I feel like I've taken on the world and beaten it, not just for me but for everyone else.” What a brave lady! Everyone in this country wishes her well!
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