Humza Yousaf pledges to find reason why sisters with cancer gene were offered different care
dailyrecord.co.ukHumza Yousaf has pledged to look into the case of a woman denied the preventative surgery for cancer her sister underwent, despite both having a gene making them more likely to develop the disease.Gill Gooding and her sister, Jo Thompson, both have the CHEK2 cancer gene with a high risk of developing the disease.
The women have already had several family members die from cancer, with Ms Thomson having a double mastectomy to reduce her chances of becoming ill in the future.However, Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said that Ms Gooding had been denied the same procedure – and had had to fight to access testing to see if she had the CHEK2 gene.He pressed Mr Yousaf on the difference in treatment the two sisters have received at First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood, saying the women had seen both their parents, a cousin, aunt and two grandparents all die from cancer.While he recounted how Ms Thomson “was given preventative surgery and reconstruction in Edinburgh” after she had tested positive for the CHEK2 cancer gene, he said Ms Gooding’s treatment had been different.Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “Gill was repeatedly denied genetic testing by NHS Glasgow, despite her family history.
She persevered and discovered that she does have that gene.“But now she is being told that the surgery her sister received in Edinburgh isn’t available in Glasgow, meaning far longer waits and recovery times.”The Liberal Democrat leader added: “All Gill wants to do is to see her young children grow up – something her mother never got to do.”He urged the First Minister to look into the case and to “ensure that all patients, wherever they live, have the highest quality cancer care”.Mr Yousaf, who was health secretary before becoming First
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