Lorraine’s Story

Lorraine and Jim

It was a fortunate thing that Lorraine visited the Breast Screening bus when it was in Grenfell in March 2023. Lorraine was diagnosed with breast cancer in Orange when she went for imaging and markers.  Since then, Lorraine has travelled over 6,000kms to Orange or Forbes for tests, specialist appointments, for 2 surgeries, for radiation treatment, and for lymphoedema screening. Lorraine also has to travel to Young to see her GP, as there is only one GP in Grenfell, and he is fully booked. 

For Lorraine it was not just the distances that she had to travel for appointments and treatment, she also had to consider (a) driving the 4-wheel drive as the roads are pretty bad, full of potholes (uncomfortable when feeling unwell), (b) the extra time required for roadworks to fix said bad roads (no extra lanes available to assist with traffic flow) and (c) timing her appointments so that she missed the peak hours (dawn and dusk) of kangaroos on the road! Definite considerations metro cancer patients would not have to consider. 

Can Assist assisted Lorraine with the costs of accommodation when she needed surgery in Orange, and with some out-of-pocket specialist bills. And Can Assist will continue to support Lorraine’s cancer journey, as she needs it, with continued travel for regular testing, and lymphoedema screening.