Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to acknowledge World Haemochromatosis Week. Haemochromatosis is a common, inherited disorder which causes too much iron to be absorbed and stored in the body. It is often underdiagnosed, even though one in 200 Australians is genetically predisposed to the disorder and one in 10 carries one copy of the gene change. The condition is often underdiagnosed because its early symptoms, fatigue, depression, and joint pain, are non-specific. Unfortunately, if left untreated, hereditary haemochromatosis may be fatal, because of its high rates of liver cirrhosis, diabetes and cancer.

I personally know this, because my uncle died from this condition, a condition that could so easily have been avoided. Instead of dismissing his tiredness for 15 years, a simple iron test would have told this doctors that he was carrying too much iron. It would have told them his organs were literally rusting. But, more than that, if he knew his iron was too high, he could have simply given blood and his symptoms of iron overload could have been prevented. Giving blood regularly could have prevented this bronze diabetes, his fatigue, his liver cirrhosis and his premature death. Giving blood regularly would have also helped our depleted blood bank stores. Haemochromatosis is tricky to say, simple to test, easy to treat but tragic to ignore.