Toby Fuller hopes to train to become a doctor in Australia. Photo: Supplied / Toby Fuller
A young blood cancer patient who has moved to Australia to access treatment that is not funded in Aotearoa plans to become a doctor so he can give back to his adopted country.
Toby Fuller was 22 and studying at university when he was diagnosed with a blood cancer. He underwent surgery, multiple rounds of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.
He had exhausted all the funded treatment in New Zealand, and in February moved to Australia while he was well enough.
Fuller made the move in case he relapses again - a move he refers to as "trying to stay alive".
If that happens, he said he will need to access daratumumab, or dara, a drug that is not funded in New Zealand.
"It is about $240,000 a year you'd have to pay for in New Zealand. But living in Australia, patients get it as soon as they need it with no cost."
Fuller said getting into Australia was an easy process, and once he was there signing up for Medicare was also simple.
"I'm not the greatest with paperwork or anything, and I managed to sign up and the doctors, my GP over here even helped me through it. They're really welcoming and so it was super easy to do by myself."
However, the life-saving move came with other challenges, the biggest was leaving his family and friends behind.
"I got really, really close to those who supported me, you know, cared for me when I was really unwell. So it was hard to move here by myself and had none of that, none of them around me."
Toby Fuller with his mother. Photo: Supplied / Toby Fuller
'Community of Kiwis' helps inspire move
While difficult to leave his home behind, Fuller said it was hearing stories from others online that encouraged him to make the move.
"I probably wouldn't have made the move over if it wasn't for some of the WhatsApp groups and Facebook groups I'm a part of. There's almost like a community of Kiwis now who have moved over to Australia and help those who are thinking about the move."
Despite it being something he was able to do, he said it was frustrating that it was often the only option.
"The weight and the faff of staying in New Zealand is leaving patients who can't make the move, [they're] stranded and unfortunately they pass away.
"This three-hour flight is saving me and others hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. It's frustrating more than anything, seeing how easy it is."
Fuller is now intending to study medicine and give back to patients, like the way he was cared for.
While he would like to study in New Zealand, he said he was going to have to stay in Australia in order to remain healthy.
Nic Vipond has also moved to Australia so she can access a blood cancer drug. Photo: Supplied / Nic Vipond
'Disappointed, demoralised and devastated'
Nic Vipond, who also has myeloma, a form of blood cancer, struggled to pay for dara in New Zealand.
She has now sold her Hamilton house and in a few weeks will make the move across the ditch to start navigating the system that Fuller has already mastered.
Vipond was recommended dara by a private haematologist earlier this year after every other treatment had failed.
After around five months on the drug she is in remission, but it cost her $133,000 to get to this point.
Vipond said even that cost was under a 'buy one get one free' arrangement being offered by the drug company.
Due to the high price, she was forced to use her superannuation to fund the drug.
"It's not a great option and you know if the drug can continue to keep me in remission I would need to keep paying a little bit less than $133,000 per year for as long as it works and my money is unfortunately not going to last that long."
Because of that, Vipond is now moving to Australia to access the drug for free.
"I understand that dropping into the system can take six months, and so if that's the case, I will be paying for the drug for as long as it takes."
She said leaving New Zealand was not something she wants to do, but knew she had to.
"[I feel] disappointed, demoralised and devastated.
"Public health doctors brought it home for me a few months ago when they said to me, well, if you're thinking of going to Australia, you need to be aware that you could die there.
She said she wanted to remain in New Zealand. "This is where I've been born and where I've grown up and where I've worked in the health system myself and it's really tough."
Vipond said the promises Prime Minister Christopher Luxon made to blood cancer patients during the election campaign were "embarrassing" and "upsetting".
He told patients and families that National would close the medicine gap, saying: "We want Kiwis to have access to better treatments here at home to give more of them the chance to beat cancer and get back to their normal lives."
Luxon recently told Checkpoint his government had delivered more than any other in recent history.
"We're delivering, we put $605 million into cancer drugs. We've got 66 new cancer medicines or medicines that we didn't have before we made that investment. We've got six blood cancer drugs as I see it as part of that."
Vipond says she did not have time to wait.
"It's demoralising that there was a commitment to looking after blood cancer and myeloma. We've been trying for dara for so many years.
"I'm taking control, I just can't afford to wait for this, for any decision that the government wishes to make and whenever they wish to make it."
Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand has said the six blood cancer drugs the government had funded were only applicable to less than 1 percent of people suffering from the disease, and none of the six medicines were for treatment of myeloma.
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