Tweet Facebook Mail A Victorian woman is pleading for help after waiting 21 months for a breast reconstruction following a cancer diagnosis. Melanie Kuyl , 42, a mother from Eynesbury in Victoria, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in August 2020 in the middle of the state's tough COVID-19 lockdowns. She tells 9News she elected not to have reconstructive surgery immediately after needing a lumpectomy, lymph node clearance and a double mastectomy.
READ MORE: Record-breaking warm spell smothers entire southern hemisphere Melanie Kuyl was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020. (Supplied/9News) READ MORE: Reason for British tech giant's doomed luxury yacht trip revealed Now, Kuyl wants to feel "normal" again – but it will cost her $20,000 and could take years. "I was weak from chemo and my breast surgeon said to me, 'Let's just get them off first', because of the risk of the cancer coming back," Kuyl tells 9News.
"Then he said, when you've gotten through all this, we can get them back on." Getting her breasts "back on" has proved to be a long and arduous journey. She's been on the waiting list for reconstructive surgery since 2022 and there's no end in sight.
"It just doesn't look like it's going to get done," she says. Kuyl, who is listed as a 'category three' patient who needs treatment within 12 months, says the surgery has been described as "medically necessary" by her surgeon. Despite this, a backlog of surgeries, which were delayed due to the pandemic h.