Newshub can reveal more than 200,000 people are in need of drugs sitting on Pharmac's waitlist - the medicines the drug-buying agency says it would fund if it had the money.
Now, all eyes are on this week's Budget to see if National will keep its promise to fund more cancer drugs.
Lydia Pei-Pereira and Vickie Hudson-Craig are both hardworking, loving mums in their 40s and both have cancer.
"I've got stage 4 melanoma which has spread to my heart," Hudson-Craig said.
"They found a mango-sized lump in my stomach," Pei-Pereira said.
They also both rely on drugs not funded by the Government.
"When they said it wasn't funded I think we just… It was just horrified, terrified. I just remember, well we just all cried, there was three of us in the room and we just all cried," Hudson-Craig said.
"Look I'm always pissed off, it's not something that you want to hear," Pei-Pereira said.
Both of the treatments they're taking are on Pharmac's Options for Investment list - basically a wish list of drugs it would fund if it had the budget.
But it doesn't so they each need to rely on fundraising $5000 to $6000 a month.
"It's hard enough just to buy bread and milk for some whanau for some families and you know asking somebody to come up with $6000 on top of everything else that's going on for them," Pei-Pereira said.
"Having cancer like on its own, that's enough to battle but then to be constantly worrying about how you find that level of money just to stay alive, it's just impossible," Hudson-Craig said.
In December 2022, the number of patients expected to benefit from treatments on Pharmac's wish list was 172,051. By March this year, that had grown by more than 50,000 to 228,157 - a 32.6 percent increase.
"We're the only country in the world that has a waiting list for medicines and some of those medicines have been sitting there for 15 years or more," prominent cancer drug crusader Malcolm Mulholland said.
"I am living proof that this drug can work so why wouldn't you want that for me? Why doesn't the Government want that for me?" Pei-Pereira said.
National pledged on the election campaign to fund 13 cancer drugs. Pei-Pereira's wasn't on the list but Hudson-Craig's was - she needs them to keep their promise.
"Our lives are dependent on it and that promise was a lifeline," Hudson-Craig said.
She wants to be here to see her little girl Ruby grow up.
"I can't imagine having grown up without my mum and I don't want that for her. It's as simple as that really," Hudson-Craig said.
To her, this Budget isn't just tax cuts versus spending cuts.
"It's literally life and death," Hudson-Craig said.
It cannot get more serious than that.
