A New Zealand actor has opened up about the outpouring of love she and her husband have received following her terminal brain cancer diagnosis.
Kate Prior and Byron Coll shared posts online earlier this month revealing that the past five months were "the hardest" they'd ever been through together following Prior's terminal Stage 4 brain cancer diagnosis in November 2025.
Prior, 44, who is known for the award-winning short film Eleven which screened at festivals in Europe and Australia, and as a documentary producer, podcast creator and writer, explained she had felt unwell for about six weeks.
She said she had noted "slightly weird stuff — nothing that felt extreme" in the beginning, including exhaustion, brief vision problems and then migraines.
Following a migraine that had lasted about four weeks, she collapsed at home on November 15 and was rushed to hospital.
A late-night CT scan made it clear there was a serious tumour, and Prior underwent surgery that doctors later said she may not have survived without.
"If Byron and I hadn't gone to hospital when we did, the surgeon who saved my life told me plainly that I would have had three more weeks to live," she said.
Stage four
It was diagnosed as stage four terminal brain cancer and while much of the tumour was removed, Prior has been forced to stop doing the creative work she loved in the following months as she underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
The couple said their shared love for theatre and creative storytelling has helped them navigate the diagnosis, and find solace following "the hardest news of my life".
"I was really sick at the time... but essentially how important that creative space is for us, and it's more than just having a play. It actually is the backbone of the human experience," said Prior.
Coll, an actor and composer who featured in The Luminaries and Top of the Lake, agreed, saying their combined creativity was a way of coping and understanding what they were going through.
They used it as an outlet to "harness the fear, the hurt, the anger, and trying to turn it into something that that we can then own", he said.
"That is a way of empowering us, and I think it means that we still have a voice in this, and it doesn't get to dictate our whole lives and our whole identity," the 41-year-old explained.
He said continuing to work while supporting Prior through her cancer "does come with its challenges".
"Because you are trying to find work that takes you away from the things that matter, and it changes your perspective on what really matters.
"I recently went down to do a TV series in Queenstown for a bit and I didn't want to go. The last thing I wanted to do was do that. But I had to, because I had to keep things working here financially and to be able to support Kate.
A chance to be together
"It has forced me to focus on the things that really matter. And if I decide to not do this job and lose a little bit of money - or things get a little bit tight - yes, it matters. But it doesn't essentially, because it's giving us a closeness and a chance to be together, and that's the thing that matters the most.
Coll described support from their family network as "incredible", including family members who had "dropped everything" to help the pair.
This support included a GiveALittle page set up by Coll's brother Marcus, which has already raised more than $200,000 for the couple in just two weeks. They said they were "completely blown away" by the support from far and wide.
"We did not expect the generosity and the amount that has been given and donated," Prior said.
"Especially from a community in the arts that we know is severely underfunded in New Zealand and around the world, to have such a huge amount of support come from a community that doesn't get support is quite staggering to us," Coll added.
The amount raised had "opened that potential door to explore options of clinical trials and other personalised care", but the couple were being realistic about it.
"We don't want to have blind hope. We don't want to have a naivety around it. We just don't want to be ruled by searching for a diagnosis, because that sort of takes away the whole point of what it means to be together and to enjoy making memories together," Coll said.
Prior praised her experience through the public health system at Auckland Hospital, saying she had access to "an incredible high performing surgeon, oncologists and radiologists".
"We've got to believe in our public health system. It's there for all of us, and there are some incredible people there," she said.
Biggest cancer killer under 40
She also said despite brain cancer being the biggest cancer killer of people under 40, there was no register to keep track of the deadly disease or data to help doctors work out the best care and treatment for patients.
"Brain cancer diagnosis can sometimes be really hard to find, or in my experience, it happened really fast. It happened over six weeks," Prior said.
She advocated for a national clinical register for brain cancer to be set up in New Zealand and help others battling this disease.
"So if you have any information like that, you want to share it, because you want everyone to know, if it helps one person in the future, I want them to know what to look for," she said.
They said, throughout the journey so far, "everyone just wants to help" and they were "reminded just how much love there is around us" during the uncertain time.
"You’ve helped lift a weight we couldn’t carry on our own, and you’ve given us the space to focus on what matters most right now; being together, and making the most of the time we have," Coll said.
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