Why can't our early-stage HER2+ women get the treatment they need?

Who Organised the Herceptin Peaceful Protest Ride?

The organiser of the Herceptin Peaceful Protest Ride was Maxine Cook. She lives in Nelson with her partner, several much-loved pets, one truck, two classic cars and seven motorcycles. She has been a motorcyclist for 33 years and recently completed a two-month solo coast to coast trip across North America on her own motorcycle.

The details of that trip can be found on blogspot

Maxine has post-graduate degrees in Social Sciences, and spent several years in the U.K. working as a Forensic Psychologist in HM Prison Service and with the police. After three years as a Drug Rehabilitation Specialist in the National Health Service with heroin-injecting adolescents involved with the criminal justice system, she returned to Nelson and became interested in women's health issues.

The combination of Maxine's desire to keep the momentum going from her recent trip across the USA, to continue with her vocation of helping the disadvantaged, and a real sense of injustice at the lack of adequate funding for Herceptin, prompted the organisation of a peaceful protest ride aimed at persuading PHARMAC to fund the full course of Herceptin treatment for the women of New Zealand who need it.

Max's Fund Raising

As organiser, Maxine Cook intended to raise her own funding for the Herceptin Peaceful Protest Ride by doing a Jump from the Auckland Sky Tower, which had ben generously donated by skyjump. However, skyjump advised us that they were 'not in a position' to staff the event at the time originally agreed, when The Herceptin Riders were all in Auckland with their supporters on the evening of 7th March 2008.

Max sincerely apologises to all sponsors who have already paid for her to do this. She will now raffle this jump as a prize so that someone else can have this awesome experience, and she will refund any sponsors who have already paid up front for her to do it herself. Please contact her via the weblink on this site, if you would like your money back, or if you would like a Herceptin Riders Supporter's T-shirt in lieu of a refund.

A Few Words From Max

I wanted to do this ride because I wanted to try and change the current situation for the women of this country and their families, many of whom are in a desperate situation, faced with a choice of trying to raise an enormous amount of money to try and save their lives, at a time when they are already sick and/or terrified about the future, or accepting the odds that maybe they won't live to see their kids grow up, and will probably instead only live long enough to watch the hearts of everyone around them break.

I also wanted to do this because I think as a society we have two choices. One is to allow ourselves to make the mistake of thinking that we can't change things. Like the biker I spoke to a few weeks ago, who apparently has a sister with breast cancer. He told me he didn't think any protest would make a difference! He certainly had plenty to say about how crap he thinks the government is, and no doubt he'd have a lot of agreement out there on that, but is he going to do anything OTHER than just sit around complaining about it, while people around him battle for their lives? No, he isn't. So what will that change? Nothing.

I really belive that whatever the issue at stake, if the roar is loud enough, it HAS to be taken on board. If we believe we can't make a difference in our own society by standing up and being counted we're simply complying with what politicians WANT us to do, and stay silent. That's what governments count and thrive on - passive populations. If we remain passive, on this issue, we're condoning what the government is (or isn't!!!) doing about it. We're passively helping them throw people to the lions. It goes much wider than this, however. If we simply stand silent on ANY issue of magnitude that directly affects the quality - or existence - of life for the common people of New Zealand, we run the risk of choking to death on our own apathy, and we'll be left with a society that no humane person would want to be a part of in the generations to follow.

The OTHER choice that we have as a society is to stand up and give vent to the voice that we all have. Simply voting for any government in the hope that they will do the right thing by us is apathy if we don't make it absolutely clear to them what we want them to do, and MAKE them hear us. If enough people want the same thing they can make it happen. Who wants a dictatorship? That's what societies end up with if they don't use the voice they have - and the power that comes with it - to help shape the life that they need and deserve. I definitely believe that its socially irresponsible of any government to deny its own people the best shot at survival simply because the drugs they need cost a lot of money. Not when that same government spends millions on advertising campaigns to try to convince the world how great their country is, and stands in front of its people openly undecided about how to spend a multi-million dollar "surplus". But let me ask you something ... isn't it equally irresponsible of the people in those societies, to collectively gnash their teeth in sometimes very heated, passionate, private discussions about the fact that something really important is needed for their people, but simply leave the battle of trying to achieve that important thing to just a few small brave voices? That's when attempts at changing the status quo DO fail. When the few are expected to speak publicly for the privately ranting masses. What does that look like? A few fanatics? No. Its APATHY, and its exactly what the government depends on to enable it to continue to shirk the responsibilities we put it in place to handle, and ignore issues like Herceptin funding. Actions speak louder than words. Words alone, however positive and encouraging, won't save the lives of women dying of breast cancer, but actions might, and I didn't intend to listen to anyone apathetic enough to tell me this was not a cause worth fighting for.

I'll leave y'all with this thought... Apathy is a disease far more insidious in its damage than breast cancer, and it will kill a lot more people. But only if we let it. And nobody can change that for any of us. We have to change it for ourselves.