In the prime of my life, I was diagnosed with brain cancer. In 2016, I underwent a brain-damaging surgery in which my tumour was only partially removed. The surgery left me with untreatable epilepsy, a devastating condition that ended my career as a global health researcher and puts me at an increased risk of death. I am now at a critical juncture in my disease. My 5cm tumour, which is in a critical area of my brain, is growing. I am under pressure to undergo radiation and chemotherapy, treatments that I have been holding off for as long as possible as they risk my ability to function, including being able to speak and early-onset dementia.
I am not the only one. About 27 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour every day in Canada. Tragically, brain cancer is a young person's disease, typically striking people in their 20s, 30s and 40s. It is also the biggest cancer killer of children. There is hope though. In 2023, a drug called Vorasidenib was proven effective at extending life for patients like me who are struggling with this catastrophic disease. Vorasidenib is the first targeted drug developed for people with brain tumours, and the biggest breakthrough in brain cancer treatment in over 50 years. It does not have the same toxic effects of chemotherapy and radiation.
Unfortunately, this life-extending medication is only available through an expanded access program in the United States and remains inaccessible to Canadians and people in other countries who desperately need it. You cannot take this drug after undergoing chemo and radiation, so many of us are running out of time.
Heart-breakingly, my friend recently died of lung cancer. While undergoing treatment, she was desperately hoping to hang on until there was a breakthrough in the treatment of lung cancer. It never came. For some of us with brain cancer, the breakthrough HAS come. But without the support of Servier, the pharmaceutical company who produces the drug, or Health Canada, who urgently needs to approve the drug, our lives are unnecessarily being cut short.
I am a mother, a daughter, a sister, and a good friend to many. I am engaged to a man I love. Despite the many hardships that come with living with a brain tumour, my life is worth living, and I am not ready to die. I know that others in the brain tumour community feel the same.
We urge Health Canada and Servier to expedite the processes necessary to make this vital treatment available in Canada where it can give hope and extend the lives of those afflicted by brain cancer. Please sign this petition today. Every one of us with a brain tumour and all of our loved ones truly appreciate it.
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