Breast cancer support organisation Something Pink has expanded their help to Southern Cross and Esperance residents battling with the disease.
President Katrina Tedge told the Kalgoorlie Miner she had recently moved to Southern Cross and found people there who had breast cancer also needed financial support.
“We have decided to form a committee to include Southern Cross. Gloria Moyle — who also goes to Esperance for Goldfields Women’s Health Care Centre — has found the same thing in Esperance, there are breast cancer patients that would also benefit from our financial assistance scheme,” she said.
“She is going to be co-ordinating that in Esperance and I’ll be co-ordinating Southern Cross.”
Ms Tedge said applications would be received through Goldfields Women’s Healthcare Centre, with the process labelled as “really simple and confidential”.
She thanked VM Drilling for their support and sponsorship, along with the committee which constantly fundraised and organised well-attended events.
When asked whether she was concerned about meeting the financial needs of breast cancer patients after the service expansion, Ms Tedge she was in fact looking for people to access the money available.
“It’s very difficult to give money away to people in need, we’ve learned. I guess what we want people to know is we’re working hard to make a difference,” she said.
“I’m a survivor as well and we were in a privileged position where financially we were OK, but that’s not the case for everyone.”
Ms Tedge said going through breast cancer was not cheap, with tests, scans and paying for specialist medication.
She said the funds raised were previously donated to the Breast Cancer Institute at Hollywood Hospital, but for the past two years the committee had decided to keep their funds for local use.
Ms Tedge said Something Pink had helped at least a dozen families since the start of the year, and encouraged locals to apply for financial help.
“If they know someone that’s been diagnosed, please encourage them to apply with us because we’re going all this work for them. We really want to be able to have a positive impact on their lives,” she said.
“We’re just really passionate about being able to support our people with breast cancer in the Goldfields, in Southern Cross and Esperance.”