Sharon Brett-Kelley

And then what happened?

Because that wasn't straightforward.

If you were somewhere else in the world, like Australia or the UK or any OECD equivalent country, what kind of treatment would you have expected?

But not seven?

So just to be clear, you were told that you had a seven month wait because they just didn't have what the space and the specialist as well as the transplant that you needed.

We all know Andrew's story about long treatment delays is not unique, so much so that cancer clinics around the world are targeting New Zealanders with blood cancer.

Rosie Shaw is the head of advocacy for the charity Blood Cancer NZ.

So when you say they can't be screened so that you can't go for an annual test like you can with, say, doing a mammogram for breast cancer?

So what are the symptoms?

I mean, if you can't screen for it and it's hard to pick up in, you know, any kind of testing, how do people find out if they have it?

So it's not always finding a lump somewhere, right?

And are there certain groups of society that are more susceptible to it?

And you can't opt for private treatment.

It all comes through the public system.

What kind of treatment is available in New Zealand, you know, and how does it compare with other countries like, well, we'd like to talk about Australia and we know that people go to Australia for better treatment.

So what can we offer here in New Zealand?

Overseas treatment is not cheap.

In March, haematologist Dr Lily Zhao visited New Zealand promoting her Sino United Health Clinic in Shanghai with blood cancer treatments costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It's not a new problem in Aotearoa.

The Blood Cancer NZ report says annual deaths from the disease have risen by nearly 40% since 2008.