Kim Lannon thought she was burnt out. It was the end of 2021, and the assistant principal of a central North Island primary school felt sick in the mornings. She had led teachers and pupils through a year of Covid disruptions and was losing weight. She often felt as though she might throw up.
Three months before, she had gone to her GP with abdominal pain, which was diagnosed as indigestion. When the then53-year-old needed to sit down to rest, a relieving teacher raised the alarm. Lannon recalls, "The teacher said, "This is so abnormal. Have you seen a doctor?"
"I was so tired. I couldn't stand up when I was cooking dinner. I went to the doctor and she touched my pelvic area and it felt like I had hit the roof."
Two months later, tests confirmed she had ovarian cancer - aggressive and stage 4, it had metastasised and she has no chance of surviving it. Two years on, 56-year-old Lannon no longer works, has paid for some drugs that aren't publicly funded, and is on a treatment plan. But near the end of July she was told she had very little time left.
Before her diagnosis, Lannon had never heard of ovarian cancer. Breast cancer is a mainly female cancer that is widely known, but ovarian cancer has symptoms that are often undiagnosed and there is no screening programme for it. In New Zealand, ovarian cancer is the most deadly form of gynaecological cancer. Every day, one woman is diagnosed with ovarian cancer; each week, five women die of it - that's about 260 women dying annually, often young and often living shorter lives than if they'd been diagnosed in Australia, Scandinavia or England.
Our survival rates are low compared with other countries against which we benchmark ourselves, such as Norway, Denmark, the UK and Australia. Oncologists point to survival rates across the Tasman, where half of all the women diagnosed live beyond five years. Here, only a third makes that distance.
Denne historien er fra August 5-11 2023-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
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Denne historien er fra August 5-11 2023-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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First-world problem
Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.
Applying intelligence to AI
I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.
Nazism rears its head
Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.
Staying ahead of the game
Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?
Grasping the nettle
Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.
Hangry? Eat breakfast
People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.
Chemical reaction
Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.
Me and my guitar
Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.
Time is on my side
Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?
The kids are not alright
Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.