Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Having to live with cancer is an experience which affects every aspect of the lives of those who have been diagnosed with this illness. There are also the emotional effects that resonate throughout the family, and there are friends and the community to consider as well. Two such cases involve constituents of mine, eight-year-old Brody Hourigan and Maria Bertone.

Several months ago Brody was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, which is a childhood bone cancer. Brody has since been undergoing extensive chemotherapy as part of his treatment. About three weeks ago, members of the Sunbury community found comfort in the fact that by organising a trivia night his parents were able to share a moment of joy amongst friends in honour of Brody. It was a trivia night like no other. It was full of music, lots of fun and good cheer. It was great to see the people of Sunbury band together. Despite the circumstances in which we had gathered that evening, it was a night awash with the warmth and vibrancy that you would expect to see amongst the Sunbury community. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge in this place and to pass on a message of thanks from Brody himself along with his parents, Mark and Tracy, and his two sisters, Jessica and Kelsey. The Hourigan family say they would:

… like to express our most heartfelt gratitude to the teachers and friends of Goonawarra Primary School, and especially to Brody’s school teacher, Amy Elliot, who has, behind closed doors, gone above and beyond her role as a teacher to ensure Brody’s continued engagement with the school. Amy went to amazing lengths to make the Trivia Night happen, and we can’t thank her enough. A special thanks also to Doug Mcleod and the whole family, the Sunbury Rotary Club, and especially, the Goonawarra community. In saying that, there is so much more people we would like to thank, and we appreciate each and every single effort the community has gone to in supporting us. The extraordinary lengths people have gone to will forever be in our hearts.

For my part, it was heartening to see the community come together to raise funds in support of Brody. The proceeds of the trivia night will go a long way to helping the Hourigan family concentrate on Brody’s treatment and their hope for a full recovery without the added financial distractions.

The financial hardships that arise as a result of the life adjustments families are forced to make are enormous. Parents must choose between their work commitments and the need to provide constant care for their sick child. This adds further to the daily costs of getting to and from hospital and the added costs that come with that. Family and community are pillars whose values are magnified tenfold during times of difficulty. Financial hardship, at a time when an individual and the family are both faced with dealing with the extremities of cancer, is all the more overwhelming when faced with a choice of whether whatever savings one may have are used on treatment or are instead afforded to those who are closest to you in order to facilitate their needs.

One other such case involves a constituent of mine, Maria Bertone, a pensioner. She was diagnosed with ovarian peritoneal cancer 6½ years ago. Dealing with this form of cancer has been a daily struggle for Maria. In addition, however, Maria is facing another struggle—that is, being in the unfortunate position of having to fork out from her own pocket the money needed for four treatment cycles of the drug Abraxane, which costs $2,500 per dose. This is essential treatment for Maria, but she faces a very difficult choice between two alternatives: whether to make use of what money she has available in her superannuation to cover the cost of the treatment or whether to leave that money for her 10-year-old son, who suffers from various patterns of behavioural disorder and who will need financial security because she is the sole carer. Because of Maria’s age, accessing her superannuation fund will lead to penalties. It will add another $5,000 to the cost of her treatment. In addition to this unenviable position, Centrelink will consider her access to her superannuation as income and, as such, she will be unfairly penalised.

Under the PBS, this drug is subsidised when used to treat metastatic breast cancer and only after other forms of therapy have been exhausted. It does not make sense that the same cancer drug needed for both metastatic breast cancer and ovarian peritoneal cancer is subsidised when treating the former but not the latter. This inconsistency is not reflective of the reality that many people will, undoubtedly, continue to face. Maria is saddened by the fact that she is discriminated against merely on the basis of the type of cancer she has been diagnosed with. As such, there is much room for reflection on the plight of people who suffer life-threatening diseases, such as cancer. I wish both Brody and Maria a speedy return to full health and prosperity.