Singer/songwriter Juliet Harding of local electro group GoodLuck has started an important conversation after sharing the story of her breast reduction surgery.

Juliet chose to undergo surgery in January after struggling with back pain for years. At the time she shared a candid post from her hospital bed, writing:

“It was a big decision for me because on the one hand a lot of people admired my big boobs and would tell me how lucky I was to have them, but then on the other hand I was living in so much pain, every day.

“After many trips to the chiro and a few back specialists, we figured out that the best way to help my situation would be this surgery,” she wrote.

However, the next challenge was funding the pricey procedure, something her medical aid declined to pay for, even though it was a medically motivated surgery as opposed to a cosmetic procedure.

“I sent off all my letters, motivations and drawings to [my] medical aid hoping that they would cover it as a legitimate solution to preventing further back surgery later in life, but they declined. I was told ‘this is an exclusionary procedure which we do not cover. You signed the contract and therefore you agreed to it,’” Juliet wrote in her post.

“Okay CLEARLY these rules have been written by men because if they had half an idea of what it’s like and [how] debilitating the pain can be then I don’t think this would be the case.”

Fortunately, Juliet was able to proceed with the surgery, as she had the money saved, but she took her experience to social media for the many women who are not in as fortunate a position.

“I would like to challenge both Momentum (my current medical aid) and Discovery South Africa to both relook at this policy exclusion…. Besides, you don’t think back surgery will be more expensive?! Okay so this is me literally burning my bra on behalf of women in South Africa and saying whichever medical-aid company reconsiders this will have my backing and my business!” she wrote.

I wasn't sure if I was going to make this public but I've decided to. So yesterday I had breast reduction surgery which…

Posted by GOODLUCK on Wednesday, 29 January 2020

The original post quickly gained attention online, with many women sharing similar experiences, and the singer later posted an update in the comments section, saying:

“Update: I had no idea how far and wide this would spread and how big of an issue this is for a lot of women. The good news is that I have just had a request to open a dialogue with Momentum this afternoon. I am glad they have reached out and I do hope some positive change can come about because of this. Let’s see what happens – holding thumbs for some good news!”

As promised Jules posted an update this month, sharing another picture of herself post-surgery, and letting followers know she is expecting to hear back from Momentum soon after meeting with one of its heads, Damian McHugh.

“I was super proud to have had a very positive outcome from the meeting with Momentum as they promised to have their policies reviewed in their annual cycle in September. Well here we are, in September! I am going to be reaching out to [Momentum] and look forward to hopefully reporting some positive results for women in SA!”

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Update. A few months ago I made a post about my breast reduction surgery and how disappointing it was to learn that even though I was in large amounts of pain, my medical aid would not cover the cost of the surgery as it was considered "cosmetic". The post went a bit crazy because so many women out there were in the same (if not much worse) boat. I heard stories from women who had bleeding shoulders from their bra straps cutting into their skin, to mothers whose 16 year old daughters were so self conscious of their large breasts that they wouldn't let anyone take a photograph of them. We took these stories and challenged the medical aids to restructure some of their policies that pertain to women. We even met with one of the heads of Momentum Damian McHugh and discussed how medical aids can make changes to policy that excludes so many procedures that are specific to women's bodies. I learnt that the Council for Medical Schemes has excluded a bunch of procedures from the list of mandatory inclusions because they do not pertain to both men and woman. Crazy because our bodies are completely different! Anyways, I was super proud to have had a very positive outcome from the meeting with Momentum as they promised to have their policies reviewed in their annual cycle in September. Well here we are, in September! I am going to be reaching out to @momentumza and look forward to hopefully reporting some positive results for women in SA! Ps. Still burning my bra for all the ladies out there… and yes the surgery went well and has changed my life for the better! 🖤✔️ Big love! . . . #girlpower #womensupportingwomen #woman #breastreduction #girls #womenempowerment #selflove #selfcare #community #positivevibes #support

A post shared by GoodLuck (@goodlucklive) on Sep 8, 2020 at 1:21am PDT

We can’t wait to hear what the outcome is and whether or not the policy will be updated to account for the many women who require this surgery as a necessary procedure for a happy, healthy lifestyle.

Shout out to Jules for using her platform to start this important conversation!

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