CanAssist client assistance officer Yvonne Scott says the south coast needs radiation therapy

CanAssit Eurobodalla provide financial support to cancer patients in the shire - extending to medical bills and travel and accommodation costs. Money is raised in the Eurobodalla and spent only on patients in the Eurobodalla. Since 2014, they have helped 422 patients.

Client assistance officer Yvonne Scott has been helping cancer patients with the not-for-profit for 12 years.

She said the biggest problem patients on the south coast faced was the lack of services and the stress of travel and accommodation whilst getting treated.

"Most people with a severe diagnosis are frightened and feel vulnerable," she said.

"It's a very anxious time, and we try cut that out for them by covering their costs."

Currently cancer patients in the Eurobodalla must travel to Canberra, Nowra or even Sydney for treatment.

Ms Scott is echoing the concerns of other south coast cancer patients calling for NSW Health to provide oncology and radiotherapy services at the new Eurobodalla Hospital, while Health Minister Brad Hazzard earlier said it was untenable due to the low number of patients.

Ms Scott said the need to travel to Canberra created multiple logistical issues for patients to overcome, especially if they did not have their own transport.

"Some people don't have access to transport themselves," she said.

CanAssist recently paid a patient's car registration because he couldn't afford it alongside his treatment.

"It's as important as anything else, because he has to get there," Ms Scott said.

READ MORE:

One of the patients Ms Scott has helped is a man in his 40s who's wife drives him to treatment in Canberra. Without a babysitter for their three young children, CanAssist had to find somewhere for the entire family to stay.

Ms Scott said keeping families together was essential during treatment.

"It's scary. You've got all these big machines, and no one you know in the room," she said.

"It makes you very vulnerable.

"While the staff and doctors are very good, it's not like having your own around you.

"There's a lot of pressure on people - a lot of unknown. Will it cure it? Am I strong enough? I have to be strong enough for my family."

Ms Scott said the patients CanAssist supported were going through some of the toughest times in their life, facing fear and the very real reality of death.

She said it was crucial to make a dying patient's final days as bearable as possible.

CanAssist recently paid more than $750 for a woman with stage four lung cancer to stay in Canberra for three nights while receiving treatment.

"We pay her chemist bills, too," Ms Scott said.

"She is on end-of-life drugs, so it will be quite expensive."

A few of the files Ms Scott flips through are labelled 'deceased' at the top.

"Last year we dealt with five people deceased," she said.

It is a reminder that cancer is a deadly threat which cancer patients face daily. For some, commuting to Canberra consumes the final few weeks of their life.

Ms Scott said radiotherapy facilities on the south coast were "something we've needed forever" and would make a "huge difference".

"It is well overdue and well needed," she said.

"It will make a lot of difference to people's well-being because they won't be worried about getting to Canberra, or being stuck in Canberra, or being separated from family."

"It would take a way a lot of the angst."

She was one of more than 5000 residents who signed a petition calling for radiation therapy services to be included in the planned Eurobodalla Hospital.

Currently the services are not included in the plan for the Eurobodalla facility. The petition was submitted to state parliament on October 11, with a response due within five weeks.

In May, Health Minister Brad Hazzard said employing radiation oncology specialists in the Eurobodalla full time was untenable because of the relatively small number of patients the specialists would see.

"It would just make such a huge difference," Ms Scott said.