Survivors Of Breast Cancer In The Early Stages Have Hope

(CTN News) – In the near future, Australians living with a high risk of recurrence after early breast cancer will be able to receive expanded treatment for as little as $7.70.

The Australian government will provide subsidies for abemaciclib (Verzenio) treatment to an additional 2400 Australians who have early-stage breast cancer that has not yet spread beyond the area where it is located, but which is at a high risk of spreading to other areas within a short period of time.

Following her first diagnosis of breast cancer in 2019, Natalie Fraser was one of those who benefited from the treatment.

The 54-year-old woman underwent a lumpectomy and mastectomy for early-stage cancer and received the all-clear shortly thereafter.

According to her, she considered herself fortunate to have had a slight experience with cancer.

Ms Fraser was shocked to discover two years later that the cancer had returned to her lymph nodes.

When the ultrasound operator said to me, “I need to speak with the doctor about something”, my heart began to sink immediately, because I knew exactly what he meant when he said “I need to speak with the doctor about something.”.”

Following her surgery in 2021 to remove her lymph nodes, she underwent four months of chemotherapy and five weeks of radiation treatment before undergoing a hormone-blocking treatment that continues to this day.

The treatment was prescribed by her physician in conjunction with hormone therapy, which was provided free of charge as part of her compassionate care.

In the words of the mother of two, she has been battling breast cancer twice in her life and is currently cancer-free.

Despite the fact that Verzenio greatly reduces the risk that it will return, I have been told that there is a high chance that it will return.

It is so important for women in my position to have access to new treatments that can help prevent this from occurring.”

In a non-chemotherapy oral medicine, specific proteins inside cancer cells are blocked and the spread of these proteins is prevented.

In the past, patients with advanced cancer that has spread beyond the breast have only been able to receive the treatment through the pharmaceutical benefit scheme.

Professor Fran Boyle, an oncologist at North Sydney Mater Hospital, said that one in eight women with early breast cancer is classified as high risk and are three times more likely to have their cancer return as incurable advanced cancer.

In his words, “Now that patients are being treated with curative intent after surgery, we can allow them to receive more intensive treatment.”

With the subsidy, eligible patients will have to pay no more than $1 per day for the medication, rather than over $100,000 for the two-year course of treatment before.

Thousands of Australian women receive a life-changing breast cancer diagnosis every year, according to the Minister for Health.

According to him, the Albanese government is committed to providing the latest and most advanced treatment at an affordable price for every patient.

The number of Australian women diagnosed with breast cancer by 2024 is estimated to be around 20,500. The most common cancer among Australian women is breast cancer.

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