A 24-year-old Auckland man battling blood cancer says the support of thousands of strangers has given him renewed hope as he fights to access life-saving treatment overseas.
Michael Walters was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in April 2025 and has raised more than $170,000 in donations for overseas treatment in just over four weeks, after missing out on a trial for a potential cure twice.
Before his diagnosis, Walters was living a "regular life" as a property manager in West Auckland, when he began to experience pain in his shoulder and chest last March.
After initially putting it off, he decided to visit his GP and was told his pain was likely the result of an air pocket in his lung.
"Something inside me was just telling me to ask for scan, so I asked for an x-ray afterwards," Walters told 1News.
Within days, doctors found a shadow on his scan. Further testing followed, and within a week he was diagnosed with an "aggressive" form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
“We started chemo pretty much a week or two after that,” he said.
A month after completing six cycles of chemotherapy, Michael was told the cancer had grown into a 12cm tumour in his chest.
Doctors enrolled him in a CAR T-cell therapy clinical trial — a treatment that re-engineers a patient’s immune system to attack cancer — which they said offered his best chance at recovery.
He was just days away from travelling to Wellington for the trial when the cancer spread to his liver and bones, meaning he required urgent treatment in Auckland and could no longer take part.
'Really rough'
"Honestly, it was really rough. I spent a lot of time in and out of hospital," he said.
After waiting for the next available spot, Walters was lined up for CAR T-cell therapy a second time, this time in Auckland.
But his health took another turn for the worse when his condition deteriorated again, causing large amounts of fluid to build up around his lungs and heart.
He was admitted to hospital just two days before his treatment trial was due to begin.
"They drained around two to three litres of fluid from my lungs and more from around my heart,” Walters said. "It was probably the sickest I’ve ever been in my life."
With options running out, he began an alternative immunotherapy, which was initially declined for funding before being approved through a special hospital grant.
However, taking that treatment meant he no longer met the criteria for the CAR T-cell therapy trial in New Zealand — something he described as “heartbreaking”.
“I missed it two times, and not by that much," he said. He believes if he could get the treatment he could be "cured within a few weeks".
Now Walters and his supporters are trying to raise around $500,000 to access the treatment overseas, with options including Australia and China.
“I never thought I’d be in a position where living in New Zealand could be the reason I don’t survive," he said.
Treatment responses can differ - expert
Dr Philip George, principal investigator of the Malaghan Institute’s ENABLE-2 trial, said CAR T-cell therapy had become a common treatment option for aggressive lymphomas, but outcomes could vary.
“T-cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy where T-cells are extracted from the patient and reprogrammed in a laboratory to recognise and attack specific cancer cells,” he said.
Early responses to the therapy could sometimes be seen within a month, George said, but more reliable assessments were typically made at three months.
In a recent phase 3 clinical trial, patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who received CAR T-cell therapy had a four-year progression-free survival rate of 39%, compared to 17% for those receiving standard treatments.
George said while "very good response rates" were often recorded, there was a possibility for patients to relapse following T-cell therapy.
"Researchers and clinicians are studying how the effectiveness of T-cell therapy can be improved and how to identify patients who have a higher risk of relapse," he said.
'My country has got my back'
A Givealittle page was established to help raise funds for Walters' treatment overseas. It raised more than $170,000 in just over a month through thousands of individual donations, many from people Michael had never met.
He said the overwhelming response from around New Zealand made him feel "like my country has got my back".
"It reminds you that there are so many good people out there," he said. “With signs my treatment is working, and the hope that has been given to me by all these beautiful people who have donated, I believe I do have a future."
Walters' father and friends have remained his biggest supporters throughout his treatment, with close friend Dominic Tekori saying his journey has been both difficult and inspiring to watch.
"He's been hit with so many treatments, but he's just been an absolute fighter," he said.
"It's really inspiring to see him put in so much effort just to fight off this cancer, but it's also been very tough seeing him in some situations.
"At the end of the day, he's come out on top. We're really proud of him."
Looking ahead, Walters said he hoped not only to recover, but to help others facing similar challenges.
"I’d love to be able to give back, especially to people going through cancer," he said.
"I know how hard it is...I’d like to be someone else’s hope."
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