The Devonport Flagstaff Page 14
Interview
May 20, 2022
Cancer diagnosis opens GP’s eyes to funding shortfall Doctor Heidi MacRae could afford to pay for the drug needed to treat her aggressive cancer, but many aren’t so fortunate. She tells Helen Vause about facing serious illness – and speaking out for change.
Tough truths... Heidi MacRae was told the funded treatment options for her aggressive breast cancer were obsolete Devonport GP Heidi MacRae headed into lockdown last August after many months immersed in all things Covid. Alongside seeing her patients, as a board member of a primary health organisation (PHO), she was also flat out with the establishment of swabbing clinics, getting vaccinations to front-line staff, dealing with issues around PPE supplies and much more. Her thoughts were far from her own well-being. As the long months of lockdown began, it was nowhere near business as usual for doctors anywhere. Many regular procedures were being postponed, including MacRae’s mammogram due that month. It was rescheduled for December, just a couple of months away. In the intervening weeks, her life was turned upside down by her own serious health event. Detection began with a routine staff temperature check at the Medplus surgery, which showed she had a fever. In September, the hitherto healthy, vibrant 50-year-old was diagnosed with an uncommon form of breast cancer – known as triple
negative – that is even more challenging to treat than other variants of the disease. The course of action put to MacRae by her surgeon was blunt but clear: “My breast surgeon told me I did not have time to wait for public chemotherapy as I had such aggressive breast cancer. “She also told me I needed to stop work immediately.” Almost right away, MacRae also found herself facing some tough truths from her straight-shooting oncologist. She was told that the treatment options funded in New Zealand are obsolete; if she wanted the gold-standard treatment for the best chance of survival, she’d have to fund it herself. MacRae and her husband Tom were able to pay an eye-watering $7,800 every three weeks for the drug commonly known as Keytruda – a cost capped at around $69,000. She holed up at home in Stanley Point, and worked through treatment with the support of friends and family. Along the way, she reported via emails
to her community and patients that she was very tired and had lost her hair, but she was handling treatment well. Part of the many adjustments for her husband and children Hamish, Lachlan and Skye, were the household logistics that would keep her safe from Covid. The boys, who were out of Auckland, couldn’t get back to be with their family anyway. It would have been a rough time for anyone. But as a working GP, rendered a patient almost overnight, MacRae started to feel that her own cancer journey had some key aspects of luck to it. For others diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, the story could be very different. Some wouldn’t be able to get the best treatment urgently – or before it was too late. She realised that she’d been fortunate to be able to access help fast and to be able to fund herself where needed. She wanted to be an advocate and she needed to start right now.
