Mother-of-three Kelly James carries the mutated BRCA 2 gene which could one day become breast cancer – but if she wants to safeguard her health she’ll need to pay $45,000.
The special education teacher, 39, from Toowoomba has had five family members pass away from the dreaded disease and has a 70 per cent chance of getting it herself.
But to avoid the lengthy waiting lists for the surgery in a public hospital she’ll have to spend thousands from her super fund – all in the hopes the decision will save her life.
Mother-of-three Kelly James carries the mutated BRCA 2 gene which could one day become breast cancer (pictured with her family)
‘I have a heavy history of women dying so I was told if I had the gene, not to wait a year or two, which is the waitlist I was looking at in the public system,’ Mrs James told the Courier Mail.
‘I thought, ‘I can act on this now and be there for my kids, my family and my job’.’
She booked in for the 12-hour operation in May which will see a team of six perform a breast reconstruction using tissue from her stomach at Brisbane’s Wesley Hospital.
She booked in for the 12-hour operation in May which will see a team of six perform a breast reconstruction using tissue from her stomach at Brisbane’s Wesley Hospital
Mrs James – who has basic hospital cover with Medibank – will have to fork out $37,000 from her own pocket for the surgery and will also suffer a tax of 22 per cent, all because it’s deemed to be an ‘elective’ choice.
Ultimately the financial sacrifice will leave her with just a one per cent chance of contracting the often fatal cancer.
The mother-of-three’s friend Kath has started a GoFundMe page in hopes she can help her raise some of the money. They’ve already hit a goal of almost $1,500.
Ultimately the financial sacrifice will leave her with just a one per cent chance of contracting the often fatal cancer
‘My friend Kelly James has decided to have preventive cancer care in the form of a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, but because she doesn’t yet have cancer, it is considered elective and therefore not fully covered,’ the page states.
‘Kelly’s story starts 2 years ago when her mother, Linda, then 58, got breast cancer and had to have a mastectomy. There is a strong maternal history of death from breast cancer in Kelly’s family: her grandmother at 52, great grandmother, in her early 50’s, Linda’s aunt, 33, plus two cousins in their late 30’s.
‘Still caring for her mother, who now has lung disease due to the effects of chemotherapy and has almost died twice from pneumonia, Kelly has three children aged seven, six and four, so not doing the surgery is not an option.’