NHS leaves cancer sufferer with differently shaped breasts

A breast cancer sufferer who had a life-saving mastectomy will be left with differently shaped boobs – after the NHS refused to lift her other one to match.

Gina Truman, 53, was diagnosed with the disease four years ago and received grueling chemotherapy.

Despite initially working, the cancer returned and in April 2013 the mother-of-two had her right breast removed to get rid of the tumour.

Doctors warned her that after the procedure, her skin would be expanded and an implant inserted to give her a brand new breast.

They allegedly promised her left would then be lifted to make it more perky, allowing for her size 42C breasts to be symmetrical.

But she was told in December that funding cuts in her local area meant that she would no longer receive treatment to give her identical breasts. However, she will still get the implant next month. 

Gina Truman, 53, was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago and underwent grueling chemotherapy to help her battle the disease

Ms Truman, from Yeovil, Somerset, said: ‘I’m annoyed because I was promised it and I feel let down. It’s a pathetic, stupid and disgusting postcode lottery.

‘I don’t like my body at the moment, I look monstrous. I’ll never get used to it and I know I will never look exactly like I used to, which is fine.

‘But one side is going to be up and one side will be down. It won’t feel right.

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‘I haven’t got a partner and I’ve said that with the way my boobs look, I wouldn’t ever have one. I wouldn’t undress in front of them – I couldn’t.’ 

She added: ‘When the surgeon said she would be able to do the reconstructive surgery, I was really happy. I got my heart set on it.

‘I thought, “Yes, I’m going to be looking normal.” I can’t even wear a swimming costume at the moment, or summer tops.

She had her right breast removed to get rid of the tumour and was promised that her left would be lifted to make it perky and more symmetrical. But funding cuts in her local area meant that she would no longer receive treatment to give her identical breasts

‘Now they are saying they won’t do it at all. I think it’s disgusting. They sit behind their desks and say, “We sympathise,” but they don’t have a clue.

‘They don’t know unless they’ve been there. They can get in the bath without looking at themselves in the mirror and feeling disgusting.

‘Some people don’t have the fight to come forward about it. I’m doing this for those people as well as myself.’ 

Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said that breast cancer sufferers should ‘no longer expect’ to have the surgery funded after the rules were changed in July 2016.

But patients living six miles away in neighbouring Dorset will still be able to have the procedure, as Dorset CCG – and many others in the UK – still offer it.

She has since hit out at the rule, calling for more NHS funding and money to be better spent.

To add insult to injury, Yeovil District Hospital, funded by Somerset CCG, has just forked out for a brand new, 650-space multi-storey car park where visitors have to pay £6 for four hours.

She added: ‘It must have been expensive. This procedure would be money better spent. You can’t put a price on how someone’s feelings.

The mother-of-two, from Yeovil, said: ‘I don’t like my body at the moment, I look monstrous’

‘People are suffering. They are going through a fight against cancer. Don’t put them through another fight at the end of it.’ 

Yeovil District Hospital said the scope of its services is determined by the CCG.

A spokesperson said: ‘The changes made last year to the criteria for NHS funded reconstructive breast surgery are now affecting our patients.

‘Clearly this is upsetting for them and difficult for the hospital staff who work very closely with these woman to support them through such life-changing treatment.’

Somerset CCG said it considers requests for the surgery on a case-by-case basis, but that in July 2016 it removed its policy on the ‘breast asymmetry’ treatment.

A spokesman said: ‘Women who had surgery for breast cancer should no longer expect to have cosmetic surgery funded and performed on their healthy breast in order to better match the size and shape of both breasts.

‘At a time when there is so much demand upon cancer services, routinely funding cosmetic breast surgery on a healthy breast – and only for women who have had breast cancer – cannot be easily justified when the local health service is struggling to meet so many demands for treatment.

‘It also raises issues of equity for the many women who have not had cancer and yet feel they have legitimate reasons why Somerset CCG should consider funding their breast asymmetry surgery.’