In era of worries over the cost of living, three weeks comes with a $16,000 price tag for Chris Brugger.
The NSW leukaemia patient has told a Senate inquiry of his family's distress trying to raise the sum for each dose of a new drug treatment keeping him alive.
The 35-year-old, father-of-two from Griffith says the non-taxpayer subsidised treatment for his Hodgkin's disease has improved his condition dramatically.
He's been able to go back to work part-time in between travelling to Sydney for medical treatment.
His wife Naomi has been able to raise $60,000 since January but lamented her fundraising efforts had diverted her attention from their young sons.
"It's been hard going, I've been away from the boys," she told an inquiry hearing in Canberra on Monday.
"They're not only missing out on dad, they're missing out on mum who's trying to keep Dad alive."
Ms Brugger told the hearing about the death of two other patients in December because they could not get affordable access to the drugs.
The family is concerned about the time it takes for drug treatments to get approved for subsidies from the government regulator.
"Cancer patients don't have that time, every day is borrowed," Ms Brugger said.
Ovarian Cancer Australia told the hearing the Therapeutic Goods Administration took an average of 31 months in 2012 to approve some drug treatments for listing on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
The Australian Melanoma Research Foundation warned the federal government was subsidising expensive and ineffective cancer drugs.
It called for a cancer clinical improvement research fund.
Research director Brendan Coventry said there was an over-reliance on drug company approaches within Australian hospitals that was seriously limiting new and cheaper research approaches.
The hearing continues.
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