In February 2021, for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, we once again wrote to New Zealand MPs to draw their attention to the appalling state of affairs for women with ovarian cancer. You can read our letter below.
01/02/21
Dear Member of Parliament,
Imagine you experience ovarian cancer symptoms and visit the doctor again and again and again… and again. Finally you are diagnosed, the cancer has spread and your doctor tells you the future you imagined is impossible.
A prompt ultrasound and blood test might have saved your life, but it wasn’t offered. There are medications which could give you more time and better quality of life but NZ doesn’t fund them.
Even though the cancer has spread, if you had breast or prostate cancer, you’d likely be curable. But because of an overwhelming global disinterest and lack of investment in ovarian cancer research – the survival rates are little changed from forty years ago.
This is the reality wahine in New Zealand face every day.
February is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month and we want to draw your attention to the forgotten cancer, that is the fifth most common cause of female cancer death – and kills more women than the road toll.
Every year we spend one billion dollars to reduce the road toll, and most years we spend nothing to reduce the death toll of a cancer which takes more women’s lives. The Ministry of Health and Te Aho o Te Kahu (Cancer Control Agency) don’t even mention it on their website. It’s time for the SILENCE to end.
We need you to support our parliament petition at https://bit.ly/signtosavelives. Women’s lives hang in the balance.
Yours sincerely,
Cure Our Ovarian Cancer NZ