Last night I saw a tweet from a woman saying she had just lost a beautiful friend to ovarian cancer.
Then I saw this one:
I understand and am sympathetic to the concern about conversion therapy but how can a petition on that issue that will affect a very few people gain so much more support than this one that affects so many?
Petition request
That the House of Representatives urge the Government to support the development of ovarian cancer (OC) awareness/education campaigns for the public and health professionals; ensure women with OC symptoms have timely access to testing; improve access to approved therapies and clinical trials; and dedicate funding to OC research.
Petition reason
Ovarian cancer (OC) kills more women per year than the road toll. There is no screening test. In NZ the majority of women can’t name a single symptom before diagnosis. There are significant barriers to access detection tests. NZ survival is 5% less than Australia (Au)—NZ has far fewer funded drugs and clinical trials. Breast cancer survival is more than double OC. Au/Canada/US have dedicated OC research, we fund almost none. Supported by Cure Our Ovarian Cancer, OCANZ, Talk Peach and NZGCF.
Why does this petition deserve and need much more support?
The woman in the first tweet is one of three or four New Zealanders who will die of ovarian cancer this week; one of the +/- 182 the disease will kill this year.
That’s more than will die as a result of road accidents.
The government spends about $1 billion a year on road safety improvements and most years nothing at all on raising awareness of ovarian cancer, improving access to tests, treatments and clinical trials, or research.
Because of that the eight or 10 New Zealand women diagnosed with the disease this week and every week will find their survival rate is no better than it would have been decades ago.
One reason for that is that many are diagnosed late because they didn’t know the symptoms and often their doctors mistake it for other less serious conditions.
Another is that for years there has been little or no research to find better treatments and eventual cures.
That will change if the petition is acted on.
The petition is fronted by more daughter and supported by four gynaecological cancer organisations – Cure Our Ovarian Cancer, Ovarian Cancer NZ, Talk Peach and the NZ Gynaecological Cancer Foundation – and it is non-partisan.
Ovarian cancer doesn’t care about politics and it doesn’t discriminate. It strikes women of any age or ethnicity and it kills them.
It will keep killing them unless there is increased awareness of the symptoms, better access to testing, treatments and trials and a lot more research.
Please sign the petition and share this link to encourage family, friends, work mates . . . everyone you know to sign too: https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/petitions/document/PET_99389/petition-of-jane-ludemann-for-cure-our-ovarian-cancer
P.S.
This isn’t intended to dissuade anyone from supporting the other petition – it’s not either/or.