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Home / New Zealand

Labour MP Kiri Allan shares the nasty comments she's received amid cancer battle

NZ Herald
3 May, 2021 08:19 AM3 mins to read

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Labour MP Kiri Allan is fighting stage three cervical cancer. Photo / Supplied

Labour MP Kiri Allan is fighting stage three cervical cancer. Photo / Supplied

Labour MP Kiri Allan has been subjected to shocking comments from social media users during her battle against stage 3 cervical cancer.

Allan published screenshots of the comments on Twitter on Sunday, with the caption: "Just ya average day on NZ [social media]."

In one of the screenshots shared by Allan, a user told the MP to "get over yourself".

"There are 71 people a day diagnosed with cancer and it sickens me to see you paraded in front of the media/by the media as this poor suffering wretch," the man wrote.

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"The Labour Party uses other people's pain and suffering to promote their party and you are one of those victims."

Another user posted a racist comment following Allan's diagnosis, saying Māori women would "assist their cervical cancer issues by abandoning promiscuity rates and developing real self-respect and personal values".

Just ya average day on NZ SM... pic.twitter.com/tbPKQ8H4v8

— Kiri Allan (@KiriAllan) May 2, 2021

But for every hateful comment, Allan had been flooded with positive ones, sending her love and admiring her strength.

She received widespread support after revealing her cancer battle.

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Māori women are more than twice as likely to develop cervical cancer than Pākehā - and three times more likely to die from it, a 2019 study led by Victoria University of Wellington's Te Tātai Hauora o Hine Centre for Women's Health Research detailed.

Allan used her diagnosis to urge other wāhine to get smear tests, saying the late Talei Morrison's rallying calls for women, particularly Māori women, to get tested regularly was the push she needed to get it done previously.

But Allan said that as time passed and work piled on, going to the doctor beyond emergencies went down the priority list as she took a "see no evil, hear no evil" approach to that part of her body.

She said she'd been asked by people after her diagnosis: "Is there anything I can do?".

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"My answer now is yes. Please, please, please - encourage your sisters, your mothers, your daughters, your friends - please #SmearYourMea - it may save your life - and we need you right here."

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