Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/85232
026: pinkfeature One of the Lucky Ones AFTER YEARS OF POLITICAL SERVICE, LAILA HARRE HAS BECOME AN EXPERT ON MAKING THE HARD DECISIONS. SO WHEN SHE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH BREAST CANCER LAST YEAR THERE WAS NO DOUBT SHE WOULD TAKE EVERY OPTION AVAILABLE TO FIGHT THE BATTLE… AND WIN Laila Harre had thought a lot about what she would do if she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The day before Pink spoke to the current Issues Director for the Greens Party, Laila had just passed her 12 month breast cancer check with flying colours. The former cabinet minister is no stranger to the disease. Her mother was 48 when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer. Charmian had been recommended to have a lumpectomy with radio therapy and followed the medical advice she was given. "There is no reason why she wouldn't do that," Laila explains, "but I committed that if it ever happened to me I would take the more serious surgical options." The breast cancer returned for a second round at age 55 and unfortunately the disease finally took her mother's life seven years later. Because of the genetic possibility the disease may be passed onto her, Laila was advised to begin regular mammograms 10 years before the age of her mother's first diagnoses. Additionally, Charmian stems from a susceptible line that carries the Ashkenazi gene which increased Laila's chances of also developing the disease. She has since been tested and found to not carry the gene. "Every woman knows that nervousness that comes as a build up to their mammogram. Each time I had to consciously psyche myself into it because I was concerned each time they would find something. "I had been advised that I did have a higher risk and was on surveillance with routine checks as a result of that from age 40. I felt fairly adjusted to the possibility that I would be diagnosed one day." So when she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year at the age of 45, she knew exactly what she wanted to do. After an initial recommendation to have a mastectomy on her right breast, Laila opted to have the left breast removed as well. "It seemed less brave then the potential risk of contracting a second From left to right: Laila and her sister, Niki after the Kerikeri Half Marathon in 2009; with the Vanuatu Workers' Union in January 2011, with husband, Barry Gribben; at work in Samoa in 2011, Laila, Paula Gardner (middle) and Joyce Brandful (right) in New York. The trio met up for the first time in 24 years having worked together in Geneva and New York in 1988.