An emotional experience

This news package made me a little emotional because the topic is one that is close to my heart.

Doing the package on the expensive breast cancer treatment was something I did not even plan to do, basically the report came to me while playing around online. I did not even know that organizations like Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Doctors without borders existed. But now that I do I will be visiting their sites regularly to keep up with their work.

http://www.tac.org.za/sites/all/themes/sky/css/images/fresh/tac-logo.jpg

A part of me does wish that mainstream media could find the topic of expensive cancer treatment newsworthy and follow up on whether Herceptin/trastuzumab will be made cheaper. 

I feel strongly about this because my grandmother died from breast cancer which had ended up being bone cancer like in the case of Tobeka Daki who is mentioned in the report found on the TAC website under the topic: Activists demand Roche drops cost of vital breast cancer medicine. My granny was part of the public sector so she probably never even heard about the treatment.  

Doing the package was informative and difficult at the same time. I learned a lot about different non-profit organizations that try to make a difference in all our lives by speaking out. It is inspiring to learn about campaigns like the Fix the Patent Laws campaign which has members that go out of their way to bring awareness to issues like this one.

The assignment has taught me a lot and I am now informed about some of the issues that will not necessarily be covered in the seven o’clock news bulletins. I am grateful for non-profit organizations like Treatment Action Campaign which is where I first saw the story.

I did not face much difficulties doing research on this topic because it is something I am very interested in and will still be interested in years from now. Most people are also interested in the topic which means a change will eventually take place.