Every day, Chris Sequeira lives with a large hole in his nose and other disfigurement on his face caused by multiple surgeries to treat his cancer.
He would love to wear a facial prosthesis but he can't afford one - and there is no funding to help him get one. And it wouldn't be a one-off cost. Fake noses and cheeks and ear and jaws don't last forever. Some people try to hang on to their existing prosthesis for so long, because they can't buy a new one, that it starts to grow mould, according to Sophie Fleming, who makes them for a living.
By contrast, Australians who need a breast or limb prosthesis after surgery or injury, do have access to funding support from the Commonwealth government.
