WHEN SALLY Crossing was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995 she didn’t know where to turn.
The Sydney consumer health advocate described the lack of access to information and support as “a real mess”.
This experience led Sally to start the Breast Cancer Action Group and then get help to set up the Cancer Voices movement.
More than 20 years later, Ms Crossing – now chairwoman of Cancer Voices NSW – is still fighting cancer but says things have changed since her first diagnosis. She is now calling for people affected by cancer to lend their voice to the cause.
“Things are improving for people with cancer, and I like to think that’s because we’ve been out there rattling our chains and campaigning to give people with cancer a voice,” said Ms Crossing, who was appointed a member of the Order of Australia for services to the community through health consumer advocacy in 2005.
“The reason I got involved is there are many other people like me who needed things to be better for people with cancer.
“I wanted to make the proverbial ‘real difference’ and to say this is what people with cancer want.”
She said the main issues are getting people better access to co-ordinated, quality cancer care and reliable information.
“We also want to get better access to cancer drugs, especially new and innovative ones, and are calling for better survivorship and support assistance.”
Cancer Voices is active in all aspects of the cancer journey, including diagnosis, information, treatment, research, support and care.
And while she comes from a background of advocacy, she said the volunteers have many different backgrounds.
“Most of our volunteers are people who have had cancer or are living with cancer. But what makes us different is we are the only group out there of people with cancer trying to do something for people with cancer.”
