New Normal Same Cancer

We are thrilled to be one of 9 Australian organisations partnering on New Normal Same Cancer, a nation-wide campaign urging Australians to return to their doctors.

COVID-19 has given us a “new normal” – from face masks to hand sanitiser, and a profoundly affected healthcare system.

Across the country, we have seen a significant drop in cancer screening, pathology and surgery. Job insecurity and financial concerns, along with fear and anxiety around contracting coronavirus, has resulted in many Australians deferring medical attention for new symptoms or attending routine follow-up appointments.

The pandemic has also meant restrictions to elective surgery along with the suspension of many clinical trials which can lead to long-lasting health and financial consequences.

Cancer cases do not disappear as a result of reduced screening, they just remain undetected. When cancer is diagnosed at a later stage it is more difficult to treat and survival rates decline.

As a collective of patient organisations, we want to encourage people to contact their healthcare professional, get checked or re-book their missed medical appointments, to minimise the time between cancer diagnosis and treatment, from weeks to days.
We want to ensure that COVID19 doesn’t evaporate our years of advocacy work in the cancer space.

For more, visit www.newnormalsamecancer.com.au

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Please note: Lymphoma Australia staff are only able to reply to emails sent in English language.

For people living in Australia, we can offer a phone translation service. Have your nurse or English speaking relative call us to arrange this.

Useful Definitions

  • Refractory: This means the lymphoma does not get better with treatment. The treatment didn’t work as hoped.
  • Relapsed: This means the lymphoma came back after being gone for a while after treatment.
  • 2nd line treatment: This is the second treatment you get if the first one didn’t work (refractory) or if the lymphoma comes back (relapse).
  • 3rd line treatment: This is the third treatment you get if the second one didn’t work or the lymphoma comes back again.
  • Approved: Available in Australia and listed by the Therapeutics Goods Administration (TGA).
  • Funded: Costs are covered for Australian citizens. This means if you have a Medicare card, you shouldn’t have to pay for the treatment.[WO7]

You need healthy T-cells to make CAR T-cells. For this reason, CAR T-cell therapy cannot be used if you have a T-cell lymphoma – yet.

For more information on CAR T-cells and T-cell lymphoma click here. 

Special Note: Although your T-cells are removed from your blood for CAR T-cell therapy, most of our T-cells live outside of our blood – in our lymph nodes, thymus, spleen and other organs.