Rotorua mother Beccy Ganley was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2024.
Rotorua mother Beccy Ganley says she was “relatively young” when diagnosed with breast cancer.
At 47, she had just had her second routine mammogram under the national breast screening programme.
Ganley was diagnosed in May last year after a 7mm tumour attached to a cyst was detected. She had no symptoms.
“You couldn’t feel it. Even when you knew where it was, you couldn’t feel it.
“I work fulltime, I’ve got three kids ... so I’ve had to come to terms with having a diagnosis but also completely rearranging my whole work and home life. It’s just so overwhelming.”
Ganley is encouraging people to get their routine mammograms and “don’t put it off”.
It comes as the latest Health NZ data shows the Lakes region has the highest rate of breast cancer registrations in New Zealand, with 59.8 cases per 100,000 people in 2022.
The Bay of Plenty region has the fifth-highest rate, with 53.9 cases per 100,000 people.
Ganley said she had surgery three-and-a-half weeks after her diagnosis.
She contacted the Rotorua Breast Cancer Trust after being told she needed a “post-surgery bra”, which she had “no idea” about.
While Ganley was in hospital, someone from the trust bought her two bras and a “heart pillow” to put under her breast while driving.
“It was a lifesaver. You’re so overwhelmed with so much stuff that things like that, you just don’t have the capacity to even think about it.”
Ganley said she had two weeks of radiation and was taking a “preventative” drug called Tamoxifen for five years.
She had since become Rotorua Breast Cancer Trust chair to give back.
“Sometimes those little bits of extra stress is just what sets you over the edge. If I can help somebody else with their cancer journey and make it just a little bit easier, it’s absolutely huge.
“We support women in any way that they need support.”
Last month, Wai Ariki Hot Springs and Spa hosted a “bathe for pink” fundraiser for the second year.
General manager Debbie Robertson said it offered complimentary bathing sessions to local breast cancer survivors identified by the trust and donated $5 from every private pool booking in October.
“We are a wāhine-strong team here at Wai Ariki, so breast cancer awareness is something very close to our hearts with family members who have gone through it.”
Robertson said it raised more than $500 last year and was still tallying this year’s final donations.
Ganley said Wai Ariki had been “fantastic” with their fundraising and awareness efforts.
Pharmac announced in June 2024 that Kisqali would be funded for a form of advanced breast cancer known as HR-positive HER2-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer.
The agency received an application to fund it for early-stage breast cancer in December 2024 and was seeking clinical advice.
Novartis manufactured and supplied Kisqali (ribociclib).
A Novartis statement said global study results found Kisqali could “significantly reduce” the recurrence risk in women with early-stage (Stage 2 and 3) breast cancer.
About 900 people with high-risk early-stage (N2) breast cancer would be expected to benefit from it in the first five years if funding were approved, it said.
Breast Cancer Foundation NZ chief executive Ah-Leen Rayner said about a quarter of women with Stage 2 and 3 diagnoses could avoid having their cancer return if they could access treatment like this early.
“The study shows that early intervention can stop 100s of women from reaching the stage of incurable disease.
“For too long, our health system has funded medicines only once cancer has spread, when treatment becomes about prolonging life rather than saving it.”
Rayner said New Zealand women deserved the same chance to live cancer-free like those in Australia, where this type of treatment was already available for earlier-stage patients.
Pharmac’s advice and assessment acting director Caroline De Luca said it understood how hard it could be when a loved one was living with a serious health condition and needed access to medicines.
“Our team works hard to fund as many medicines as possible within a fixed budget, using the best available clinical evidence, expert advice, and the lived experiences of New Zealanders.”
De Luca said Kisqali for early breast cancer would be considered by the Cancer Treatments Advisory Committee this month.
If the committee recommended funding, Pharmac would do a health technology assessment and prioritise it alongside other applications on its Options for Investment list.
Pharmac could not say when a funding decision would be made.
“It depends on how much budget we have available, the success of negotiations with the supplier, and how we’ve prioritised this medicine against others people need us to fund.”
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.