Breast cancer sufferers want the chance to spend good quality time with those they love
Realistic Medicine can help us make this ambition a reality, says Mary Allison
Ijust want to live. These are the words I frequently hear from women who face the difficult reality of living with incurable secondary breast cancer – where their cancer has spread to another part of the body.
Although this awful disease is lifelimiting, many of the women we meet are living well, thanks to the quality and availability of drugs and access to clinical trials in Scotland. The fact is that scientific progress is making a difference for people with cancer.
Yet, it’s no secret that tough decisions must be – and are being – made, as Scotland’s NHS faces increasingly challenging times. But what will these decisions look like in practice and how will they impact on the lives of patients and their families? There’s been a lot of talk in the NHS recently about the concept of ‘Realistic Medicine’ – the Chief Medical Officer’s plan to deliver a person-centred and sustainable health service. It has sparked a wide ranging debate on where our NHS goes next. It has generated provocative views around whether the NHS should spend money on new lifeextending cancer treatments and more thoughtful views around how we can do the best for everyone.
Working with people who live well with secondary breast cancer demonstrates to me daily that we need to listen to what matters to them. Scotland has worked hard to make ‘the big C’ more of ‘a wee c’ and thanks to scientific progress, and our incredible NHS, secondary breast cancer is now a condition where people diagnosed with the condition have choices.
For me, Realistic Medicine is about supporting people with a diagnosis of secondary breast cancer to access the most appropriate care for them, including the option of the most effective life-extending drugs we can offer.
Women with secondary breast cancer repeatedly tell us that what matters to them the most is spending good quality time with those they love. And they’re not just talking about the big moments in life either – having a night out with friends; picking children up from school; taking their dog for a walk. It’s the little pleasures of living that are cherished the most and new cancer drugs can be effective enough to allow sometimes many years of good quality of life to be enjoyed. They want the chance to live – to be a loving partner, a caring parent, a valued friend and a hardworking employee. That’s why having access to life-extending drugs