Blood cancer can hit anyone, at anytime. In Australia, the number of people living with blood cancer is expected to rise by about 30 per cent in the next decade, according to new analysis from the Leukaemia Foundation.
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While improved treatments and care have increased survival rates, the demand for support services has never been greater.
In 2015, about 343 Tasmanians were diagnosed with one of the four major blood cancers – myelodysplastic syndromes, myeloma, leukaemia and lymphoma.
This number represented a 30 per cent jump in diagnosis between 2005 and 2015. By 2025, the projected number of people being diagnosed with these particular blood cancers is expected to be about 373 – an extra 30 people each year.
Leukemia Foundation chief executive Bill Petch said while a continued increase in diagnosis rates was concerning, the good news was improved treatments and care was increasing the survival rates of people living with blood cancers.
“The demand on all of our services, which include emotional and practical support and the provision of vital, disease specific information and education, will only continue to grow and be put under pressure,” he said.
“If we continue to see a consistent 30 per cent rise, we are going to see basically a diagnosis every 30 minutes. That is something like 17,000 people being diagnosed every year.
“The positive in that is that the mortality rates are not rising at the same rate. We are still only seeing about one death every two hours. So what we are seeing is that more people are surviving blood cancer.”
In Australia, about 12,800 people are diagnosed with blood cancer each year. Last week, Tasmanian Governor Kate Warner confirmed she had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma – Australia’s sixth most common type of cancer.
Her Excellency underwent her first round of chemotherapy at the Royal Hobart Hospital last Monday, as part of treatment for B-cell lymphoma. For her, a blood cancer diagnosis was made after an MRI revealed she had a cracked hip.
With more than 30 different subsets for non-Hodgkin lymphoma alone, Mr Petch said while diagnosis for blood cancer had improved, predicting a diagnosis was less clear.
“While it’s upsetting to see someone of that profile being contracted with the disease – and that’s the same with anyone who contracts a blood cancer – it does bring to the fore that this disease can hit anyone at anytime” he said.
“It doesn’t matter who you are and it can touch families in really significant ways. In ways you don’t realise until you actually contract that disease. With a lot of other cancers there are a number of predictors that you know will lead to an increased risk. If you are a smoker, there is an increased risk that you are going to get lung cancer.
“These don’t present themselves as clearly to people with blood cancers. You can be two or 82, male or female, good or sick health and still contract a blood cancer. If we want to ensure that with these increases in diagnosis, that there’s good survivability and there’s good quality of life – we need to invest now, not in the future.
“We recognise if this trend continues, it’s the investment now in clinical trials that are going to have an impact in the years to come.”
With increased diagnosis, Mr Petch said demand on the Leukemia Foundation’s patient accommodation services had never been greater.
Providing a free home-away-from-home for regional Australians forced to relocate to capital cities closer to treatment facilities, in 2017-18 demand on the service peaked.
Across Australia, the Leukemia Foundation provided 56,000 nights of accommodation – a 2800-night increase on the previous year, and more than 4000 nights higher than the 2015-2016 period.
For many Tasmanian’s seeking treatment for blood cancer, the process often involves travelling to Melbourne or Sydney and spending months away from home, family and friends.
Mr Petch said ensuring equal access for patients living away from major treatment centres needed to remain a priority.
“We recognise that often with blood cancers, the treatment is more invasive, it takes longer. You are not there for a few days. You are often there for weeks of months,” he said.
“We are very committed to ensuring all patients and families requiring assistance and support, can get access to that. We’re looking at ways the organisation can innovate to support families in their own homes more.
“Health services everywhere are lagging behind in being on demand. But the foundation is working to overcome that, and also to be more innovative around supporting patients that would normally not have been supported in the past.”