Breast cancer survivor's plea GIVE US OUR MAMMOGRAMS!

The mum's life hung in the balance as she waited for her routine scan

- Kasia Jillings

Sarah fears too many women have fallen through the cracks. "I know there will be people out there not as lucky as me," she says.

Sarah Kane will never know for sure if an S earlier diagnosis could have changed her breast cancer journey. But the identical twin and mother-of-two, who waited five months for a mammogram because of Covid delays, will do anything to help others avoid living with these doubts.

According to Breast Cancer Foundation NZ, Sarah is one of more than 50,000 Kiwi women who have been unable to attend routine breast screening due to Covid-19 lockdowns and the related delays. The 49-year-old Aucklander initially booked in for May 2020, but her appointment was rescheduled multiple times and it was late September when she was finally seen.

"I jokingly said, 'Well, I hope I don't have cancer.' But it didn't worry me. I had absolutely no reason to believe it wouldn't be a normal outcome," says Sarah, who has had annual mammograms since she was 40 and has no history of breast cancer in her family.

'Where the tumour was located, I would never have felt it myself"

Shockingly, several days later, Sarah received an urgent request to come back for more testing. Her worst fears were confirmed - breast cancer. Three weeks later, she had surgery to remove a 15mm grade 2 tumour, which thankfully was contained and hadn't spread to her lymph nodes.

Twelve months of debilitating fatigue followed as Sarah underwent radiation and battled the ongoing impacts including lymphoedema (swelling in the arms and legs) and hormone medication. She was regularly bedridden from exhaustion.