A Geelong woman has taken the fight for free breast cancer diagnostic tests to Canberra to share her story with members of parliament (MPs).
St Albans Park’s Aimee Glen visited parliament on September 1 to meet with MPs alongside breast cancer charity So Brave for the first National Day of Awareness for Young Women’s Breast Cancer.
Ms Glen also took part in a policy roundtable on pregnancy-associated cancers and shared her journey of being diagnosed with stage two invasive breast cancer after paying $787 out of pocket for tests.
“A lot of what So Brave are fighting for is similar to what I have been fighting for,” she said.
“We discussed barriers to an early diagnosis, which is where what I’m fighting for came in very strongly with the conversation.
“There were senators and MPs who were part of that conversation on Monday, which was really interesting, so we heard from the senators, and they listened to our stories.
“It’s still relatively early in the research, but part of what So Brave is fighting against is a lack of research and support for pregnancy associated cancers, as well as young people cancers in general.”
Ms Glen’s petition to make breast cancer diagnostic tests free has received more than 27,000 signatures as of 10.30am on September 4, since it was created on July 16.
“It’s pretty surreal to recieve so many signatures as I knew it was important, but I didn’t realise how big it would become,” she said.
“One of the cancer barriers is finances…and there are a lot of young women who have had to pay pretty exorbitant fees for their diagnosis.
“It’s not just women from Geelong who have been quoted crazy amounts, and it doesn’t matter if you’re from metropolitan or regional areas, as these fees are quite surreal.
“It was great to see that it’s not just Geelong or the main cities that have noticed that this is an issue as every state and territory in Australia have been represented in my petition through the signatures.”
Visit change.org/p/make-breast-cancer-diagnostic-tests-free for more information or to sign Ms Glen’s petition.
