Newstalk ZB
An Auckland man with aggressive blood cancer was weeks away from receiving cutting-edge CAR-T cell therapy through a New Zealand clinical trial when the disease spread too quickly, ruling him out of treatment. Now, with supporters having raised more than $264,000 towards the estimated $500,000 cost of accessing the therapy overseas, 24-year-old Michael Walters is preparing to travel to either Australia or China for the treatment. The Cancer Society says no family should have to choose between financial security and medical care, describing the $500,000 to $1 million cost as an enormous burden on top of a cancer diagnosis. Walters said his life was only beginning when he was diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in April 2025. He had just started a new job as a property manager, had a wide circle of friends he enjoyed hanging out with, worked out four times a week and was close with his family. Walters said he was happy and healthy, so when he started feeling a bit “overtired” and getting a tight feeling in his chest, he put it down to overworking himself and having the odd vape. Michael Walters (centre) says he was healthy before he was diagnosed with the aggressive cancer. He said he soon developed “really bad” pain in his chest and shoulder that he slept off, only for it to return a week later. When it persisted for a week, he decided to visit his GP. Walters said he was diagnosed with a “fairly routine” lung condition that he was told would go away with simple treatment. But his gut told him the diagnosis was wrong. He asked his GP for a follow-up X-ray, which took place the same day. “I had the X-ray, and he called me the next day. He started with, ‘Don’t panic’, which immediately made me panic.” A shadow was found on the X-ray, so he was called in for a CT scan. With supporters having raised more than $264,000 towards the estimated $500,000 cost of accessing therapy overseas, Michael Walters is preparing to travel abroad in a bid to possibly save his life. The CT scan revealed a 10cm mass on his lung. Shortly after, he said, he was diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. “Even then, cancer wasn’t really on my mind,” Walters said. “Then [the doctors] were saying it was probably benign, so I still wasn’t fully grasping what was going on. “I didn’t even cry because it didn’t feel real.” Walters started chemotherapy a few weeks after his diagnosis, flipping his “normal” life upside down. Michael Walters was diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in April 2025. He said scans during the treatment showed “many positive signs”, including one scan that came back clear. However, a month after completing six cycles of chemo, his cancer had grown into a 12cm tumour in his chest, he said. Doctors enrolled him in a CAR T-cell therapy clinical trial – an innovative treatment that modifies a patient’s own immune cells to target and destroy cancer – describing it as his best chance of recovery. He was days away from travelling to Wellington to begin the trial when the cancer spread to his liver and bones. The rapid progression meant he needed immediate treatment in Auckland and was no longer eligible to participate in the trial. Walters said he waited for the next available slot, this time for a trial in Auckland, but two days before that was due to begin his health took another turn. Michael Walters says if there was anything he wanted people to take away from his story, it was not to get “so stuck in the grind of life”. He said the only option to save his life was an alternative immunotherapy, but this treatment meant he was ineligible for the CAR T-cell therapy trial in New Zealand. Since then, Walters and supporters have rallied around him to fund him travelling overseas for the treatment, whi...
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