A BREAST cancer patient is flying to Australia for an operation she feels could save her life because she cannot get the treatment she wants in Kent.

Lorraine Foord, 42, from Cliffe Road, Strood, was diagnosed with breast cancer on September 30 and was told by her consultant she needed to have her breast removed.

She wanted both removed but, she says, Medway Maritime Hospital would not carry out the operation.

Ms Foord, who works as an accountant at Scotland Yard, said: “I have a real phobia of hospitals after I was involved in a serious car crash in 1989 and had to have a string of painful operations.

“I still cannot walk properly and can only use public transport painfully with crutches. Every time you have an operation you cannot drive, so I am completely restricted.

“My grandmother died five years after she had one breast removed and the cancer spread to the other one. I want a life, not an existence, and want to have both breasts removed so that I am not constantly living in fear.”

Ms Foord was flying out to Australia by herself this week. She is spending an estimated £8,000 on surgery and the 10,000-mile trip.

She said: “The clock is ticking. I have not had any treatment for more than a month. My GP has asked for me to have chemotherapy, but I’ve had nothing.

“Because I refused to have only one breast removed I was told by hospital staff that it was my choice to die and that there was nothing they could do."

A spokesman for Medway Maritime Hospital declined to comment as no formal complaint had been received from Ms Foord. He pointed out that the hospital had an “outstanding record” for breast cancer care.