I’ve now been fighting bowel cancer for nearly three years – I’m currently tracking well thanks to aggressive surgery and chemotherapy,but my current course of targeted antibody therapy,via IV infusion,is essential for my long-term survival.
Later in the day I tweeted my concern,not just for myself but for the thousands of other cancer patients this news could negatively impact. Within seconds,other cancer sufferers replied in comments and private messages. All in stressed tones.
To make matters worse,we all knew it would be at least 24 hours to wait,when admin staff were at their desks on Monday morning,until we would know if our treatment would be affected.
“God save the King!” chanted crowds bearing flags and flowers outside Buckingham Palace,yet what would this sudden public holiday mean for those of us with lives that really do need saving,17,000 kilometres away? Right here,right now.
Cancer cells don’t take public holidays. They multiply every day of the week.
I was shocked but not surprised that just after 9am on Monday morning I had a call to say my treatment on the public holiday at my small private hospital in Mornington,57 kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD,was indeed cancelled.