Dan Griffin and his wife have spent about $100,000 to prolong his life so he can be a dad to Maxwell, 7, and Jethro, 4.
However, funding immunotherapy treatment for his stage four gastric cancer at $17,000 a month has put him out of pocket and he is turning to the wider community to help continue getting a treatment that is keeping him alive.
Mr Griffin’s old employer RealNZ is helping him raise funds by offering a trip on the Milford Cruise on Saturday for $200 a passenger.
Mr Griffin said the fundraising was immensely valuable to him and his family.
"Our money has run out.
"We’ve put in [$100,000] and it is what we could afford to do but [the drug is] proving so successful that we just want to carry it on for as long as possible, so we’re reaching out to raise the funds to stay on it."
Mr Griffin was reliant on a drug called nivolumab that was not funded in New Zealand for gastric cancer.
After being diagnosed in October 2022, Mr Griffin finished his 23rd round of chemotherapy on Tuesday and has gone through six immunotherapy treatments.
He was told he would not respond well to treatment but ended up responding exceptionally well.
"It’s pretty rough. Chemo isn’t fun and I have it fortnightly, so I don’t get big gaps to do things in-between.
"It’s pretty full-on just keeping well when you’ve got kids and that."
Mr Griffin was grateful to the wider Te Anau community and RealNZ for helping him.
The two-hour cruise would include a welcome drink and food and if it was a sunny day, the plan was to stay out there longer, Mr Griffin said.
For ticket details, email ec.griff in90@gmail.com
