Melbourne breast cancer survivor fundraising for own surgery due to public waitlist blow-out

A Melbourne cancer survivor is fundraising for private breast reconstructive surgery, after waiting almost two years for public treatment.

Transcript

00:00Melanie Kyle doesn't feel like this is her true reflection.

00:06I think I'm damaged and I don't want to look at somebody who's damaged anymore.

00:13The mother of two beat breast cancer, but it came at a cost.

00:17After a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Mel needed a double mastectomy.

00:24Your breasts make you feel womanly, they make you feel like a mother and being without them

00:29for so long, you feel less of the person that you were before the cancer.

00:34She's been waiting for replacement surgery since November 2022.

00:38There are three categories of planned surgery patients based on urgency.

00:43Breast reconstruction is category three.

00:46I was told it was supposed to be a 12 month wait.

00:48That was almost two years ago and she's not alone.

00:52I know patients waiting at least three, four years or still on a waiting list three or

00:58four years later.

01:00Planned surgery wait times blew out during COVID.

01:03The government says it's $1.5 billion catch up plan and a range of other reforms has reined

01:10that in and bringing the wait list down to its lowest level since the pandemic.

01:15But that funding is now finished.

01:17And while the category three wait lists going down, surgeons say the number of women waiting

01:22for reconstructions is going up and they're bumped for more urgent surgeries.

01:28We're the patients that can wait the longest and will wait the longest when the access,

01:34when theatre operating time is allocated.

01:37We do need to make sure that hospitals are adequately resourced and funded and that they're

01:43not running over capacity in a way where elective surgery is constantly switched off and on.

01:49Mel still hopes for good news, but she stopped waiting, starting a fundraiser to go private.

01:56Despite being insured, it could cost up to $20,000 in gap fees.

02:01I could look forward to an amazing future without cancer and without the constant reminder

02:05of it every time I look in a mirror.