$60,000 To Save Their Mum This Illawarra Family Must Sell Its Home To Pay For Life-saving Cancer Treatment

Illawarra Mercury

Monday November 14, 2005

By JENNY DENNIS

A STANWELL Park family has been forced to put its home on the market to pay for life-saving cancer medication.

Michelle Radford, a 47-year-old mother of five, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in March.

After two operations, gruelling chemotherapy and a course of radiotherapy treatment, Mrs Radford's oncologist told her that her best chance of survival was the drug Herceptin.

A 5000-woman trial of Herceptin found it dramatically cut the chance of relapse after surgery in patients with the same type of cancer as Mrs Radford.

The drug is only available under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to women whose cancer has spread, and Mrs Radford does not qualify.

The news left the couple devastated, and confused.

"We don't really understand why she doesn't fit the criteria," Stephen Radford said, explaining that his wife had had nine lymph nodes removed from under her arm, two of which contained cancerous cells.

Nevertheless, despite writing letters to everybody they could think of, from Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott down, they have been told the only way they can get the medication is by paying for it. A year's supply of Herceptin will cost $60,000, an amount the Radfords can ill afford.

"We're having enough trouble just paying the bills and our mortgage," said Mr Radford, who has had to quit his job as an electrician to look after his sick wife and children.

It was not just about her, Mrs Radford said.

"One in five women with breast cancer have exactly what I have, and the chances of it coming back without Herceptin are high," she said.

Since her diagnosis she had met a number of other women who want to take it but cannot afford the cost.

She said she had felt very sorry for her oncologist the day she told her about Herceptin.

"By law she had to tell me about it, but she knew we probably couldn't afford it. It was like dangling a carrot, but it's only available if you have the money to pay for it. It's so unfair."

Cunningham MP Sharon Bird is supporting a fundraising drive. Donations can be made to the Michelle Radford Trust, Illawarra Credit Union membership number 572410, account number 249910299.

© 2005 Illawarra Mercury

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