In the news

Extra, extra, read all about it!

Cancer has been in the news this week.

It doesn’t discriminate.

It can affect anyone.

However, that is not the full story. While cancer survival is improving across most developed nations, those improvements are not shared equally within populations. Studies have looked at the extent to which cancer survival inequities are persisting for Māori compared with non-Māori New Zealanders and the extent to which these disparities are driven by deprivation, comorbidity, and stage of disease.

Māori continue to experience substantial cancer survival inequities. These observations are in keeping with reports from previous decades, which suggest that these disparities persist despite heightened attention.

Māori have poorer survival than non-Māori for 23 of the 24 most common causes of Māori cancer death, with the extent of this disparity ranging from 12% to 156%. The magnitude of these disparities vary according to deprivation, comorbidity, and stage. Of note, there was a tendency for survival disparities to be largest among those with no comorbidity.

This research has been ignored by our current government. They scrapped the Maori Health Authority and repealed the aspirational Smoke Free Generation legislation.

I had a lot of time to think while being infused with some nasty poisons to kill my fast dividing cells and I was left with questions like:

• What happens in circumstances where you have no car or support person or spare money to get to the hospital for chemotherapy?

• What happens if doctors intimidate you so you don’t ask questions or seek early intervention?

• What if your symptoms are dismissed and you are not taken seriously?

We have a lot of work to do in this country to fix the disparities in survival outcomes. I will give a commendation to the current government for funding a number of cancer drugs that are available overseas. This will make a huge difference to many people.

First up in the news has been the Princess of Wales who has finished her chemotherapy and released a beautiful video. I relate to everything she says. I confess I had a little cry.

Then Nigel Latta (who I have followed for years) has been diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. He describes the shock of his diagnosis and how you choose how you respond to it. His very moving video is here

Elle Macpherson came out and talked about how she conquered her breast cancer with juices and holistic dentists. She had the same type of aggressive cancer as me. I have no problem with alternative medicine but it should never be a replacement for conventional medicine. I think Elle is terribly irresponsible and she profits directly from the wellness industry (snake oil salespeople and shysters). It is not a badge of honour to ignore medical advice. After some fact checking we discover Elle had stage 1 breast cancer and chemotherapy was probably unnecessary. She failed to say whether she had herceptin (a monoclonal antibody treatment). I suspect she did.

To everyone newly diagnosed with cancer - there is always hope. To everyone else - live your life, love deeply, tread lightly, be kind.