A Rotorua man battling cancer who made an incredible recovery after being given months to live, now faces paying thousands of dollars more for ongoing unfunded treatments.  

Matthew Keogan, 52, was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer in 2021 and told to get his affairs in order and say goodbye to his family as he might only live another three to six months.  

But after chemotherapy and immunotherapy with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) – the latter treatment funded by himself and insurance at a cost exceeding $113,000 over two years – his cancer is in remission. 

After several clear scans Keogan had hoped 2024 would be a treatment-free year but in September was recommended to continue Keytruda infusion treatments every eight weeks. 

The first 10 rounds had cost just over $9700 each. But with insurance, each now cost him about $1700 per treatment. 

The business owner worked part-time and his wife worked full-time and he said they were “lucky” to be able to cover the costs. 

Bowel cancer is New Zealand’s second-biggest cause of cancer deaths. Bowel Cancer NZ said current figures suggested about 3400 people were diagnosed and about 1300 people died with it each year. 

It said that was roughly the equivalent of breast and prostate cancers combined. 

Rotorua man Matthew Keogan who was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer has made a miraculous recovery. Photo / Ben Fraser 

Nearly half of screening tests not returned 

Keogan urged Kiwis to learn the symptoms of bowel cancer and take advantage of the free, at-home screening test sampling kits sent to eligible patients’ homes as part of the National Bowel Screening Programme.  

Health NZ Te Whatu Ora National Cancer Screening Programmes group manager Harley Rogers said 9939 bowel cancer screening tests were mailed to eligible patients last year. 

Of those, 52.26 per cent were returned and 181 tests had a positive result requiring further testing. 

Rogers said six people had been diagnosed with bowel cancer from the tests returned but expected that may increase over time. 

Rotorua man Matthew Keogan said people believed health scares and cancer “won’t happen to me”. Photo / Ben Fraser 

Keogan said people believed health scares and cancer “won’t happen to me” or they became “complacent” and ended up testing too late. 

“The human body [is] a living organism and no one’s immune.” 

His simple message to those yet to return their sample for testing: “Do it”. 

Battle for funding continues 

Bowel Cancer New Zealand nurse support co-ordinator Victoria Thompson said Keogan made a remarkable recovery due to “the medications he has been fortunate to be able to access”. 

“Advocates like Matthew are essential in raising awareness about bowel cancer, a disease many are still uncomfortable talking about.” 

Patient Voice Aotearoa chairman Malcolm Mulholland saluted patients who used their own experience to educate others. 

Patient Voice Aotearoa chairperson Malcolm Mulholland. Photo / Mike Scott 

He said the group was “all too aware of the number of patients” who felt the need to “publicly speak out” because a drug “they need to stay alive” was not funded in New Zealand. 

He said patients who had been diagnosed with stage four cancer “should be focusing on their health and spending time with their loved ones, rather than have to speak publicly about their private health issues and the woeful job that Pharmac does”. 

Pharmac responds 

Director advice and assessment chief medical officer for Pharmac, Dr David Hughes, said the drug-funding agency was pleased to hear Keogan had responded well to treatment with pembrolizumab (Keytruda). 

“We know this is a treatment people would like to see funded.” 

“We currently fund pembrolizumab for melanoma and advanced non-small cell lung cancer … We hope in the future we will be able to increase the number of people and expand types of cancer this treatment is funded for.” 

Pharmac could not give a definitive timeframe for when a funding decision would be made. 

He acknowledged it had been “some time since we have funded a specific therapy for bowel cancer” but noted it was not possible to fund all medicines for every condition. 

Associate Health Minister responds 

Associate Health Minister David Seymour said the Government was committed to ensuring the regulatory and funding system for pharmaceuticals was “sustainable and not unreasonably holding back access”. 

He said the coalition agreement between National and Act agreed to update Pharmac’s decision-making model to ensure it appropriately considered “patient voice” and to account for the “positive fiscal impacts on the Crown of funding more medicines”. 

Associate Health Minister David Seymour said details around Pharmac's budget would be announced in Budget 2024. Photo / Adam Pearse 

“The coalition agreement between National and Act commits to updating Pharmac’s decision-making model to ensure it appropriately takes patient voice into account.” 

Details around the future Pharmac budget would be in Budget 2024, due May 30. 

How to detect bowel cancer 

A Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme spokesperson said bowel cancer screening every two years helped to save lives by detecting it at an early stage. 

“The programme is free for everyone aged 60 to 74, with a lower starting age of 50 for Māori and Pacific people in some parts of New Zealand.” 

The faecal immunochemical test used in screening detects tiny traces of blood present in a small sample of faecal matter. If the test is returned positive it may be an early warning sign of bowel cancer. 

Bowel cancer symptoms: 

- A change in bowel habits over a period of time without returning to normal, ie. more or less frequent, incomplete emptying, texture changes. 
- Unexplained pain in the abdomen – this may be intermittent and severe. 
- Lumps in the abdomen.
- Bleeding of any kind from the bottom or noticed when wiping. 

Source: Bowel Cancer New Zealand 

Michaela Pointon is an NZME reporter based in the Bay of Plenty and was formerly a feature writer.