Herceptin Fundraising Campaign To Be Launched

edia Release
April 11, 2007

Herceptin Fundraising Campaign To Be Launched In Wellington Next Week

Families trying desperately to raise tens of thousands of dollars for a loved one with breast cancer now have a lifeline thanks to mother and businesswoman Jacqueline Harrison.

National fundraiser Skip for Life was Jacqueline’s brainchild after her heart went out to early-stage breast cancer sufferers unable to pay for the potential life-saving but expensive treatment, Herceptin.

She was alerted to these women’s plight by the story of Herceptin petitioner, Anne Hayden.

Jacqueline, of Auckland, is organising mass fundraising skipping events throughout New Zealand to launch Skip for Life at 10am on Sunday April 22. Events will take place in Auckland, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch.

The Skip for Life Wellington event will take place at Frank Kitts Park, Jervois Quay, Wellington Wharf.

Sponsored skippers will link arms and skip in long lines to raise money and show their support for women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer.

People who cannot attend on the day to skip or make a donation can sponsor others taking part; make regular monthly or one-off donations; and/or buy Skip for Life T-shirts, including one designed by leading New Zealand fashion designer Liz Mitchell.

Skip for Life, run by volunteers and soon to be registered as a charity, will set aside funds for women recommended by their oncologists for Herceptin, but unable to pay.

The government does not fund Herceptin for women in the aggressive early stages of HER2-positive breast cancer, the form of cancer that is targeted by Herceptin.

Even if Pharmac approves the recently proposed health board funding for nine-week Herceptin treatments, women will still need financial help, Jacqueline says. Their oncologists may advise them to opt for the international standard 12 months, or they may already have large loans to pay off.

“In any event, the nine-week policy, if it is agreed, will not come in until July,” Jacqueline says.

Skip for Life is an affiliate of the Breast Cancer Aotearoa Coalition.

Jacqueline says she was inspired to start the fundraiser by coalition member Anne Hayden, also a former nurse, who with her 18,000-signature petition to Parliament last year drew attention to women virtually begging for funds for Herceptin.

The coalition is still advocating funded 12-month treatments. Anne says it will be understandable if women agree to go on the nine-week course, but it will be an “unproven regimen, a huge compromise when compared with the gold standard of 12 months."

Anne endured breast cancer surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, including nine treatments of Herceptin in 2004-05. On April 22 she will be “skipping for life” at the Auckland waterfront to play her part in the fundraiser.

About 300 New Zealand women have been unable to afford Herceptin in the past year.

www.skipforlife.co.nz

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