Dr. Richard Isaacs - The fight of his life
A Makahu father with a rare form of cancer is being denied a drug that may give him more time with his four young children.
A Makahu father with a rare form of cancer is being denied a drug that may give him more time with his four young children.
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James Grieve, 44, was diagnosed with Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumour (DSRCT) last July, when the family were<br />
living in Perth.<br />
Grieve told <strong>his</strong> oncologist the family, who were originally from Britain, were only in Perth on a work visa and he and <strong>his</strong><br />
wife Victoria wanted to take their children home to Taranaki.<br />
But they were told it was a very aggressive sarcoma and he had to start chemo straight away, Grieve said.<br />
"He made it clear I was going to die. I was going through chemo because I have four kids and something was better than<br />
nothing."<br />
After six rounds <strong>of</strong> chemo, nothing had changed, he said, so they came home.<br />
But before they left, Grieve's oncologist in Australia gave him three months worth <strong>of</strong> a trial drug, Pazopanib, which may<br />
inhibit the tumour's growth and give him more time with <strong>his</strong> four young children.
However, back home in New Zealand Pharmac won't fund the drug, which costs $10,000 for three months supply.<br />
In a letter to MidCentral oncologist <strong>Dr</strong> <strong>Richard</strong> <strong>Isaacs</strong>, Pharmac said if Grieve was granted Pazopanib, people with other<br />
s<strong>of</strong>t tissue sarcomas would also apply, because there was no clinical evidence to support the use <strong>of</strong> the drug specifically<br />
for DSCRT rather than other s<strong>of</strong>t tissue sarcomas.