A free transport service solely dedicated to cancer patients will aim to stop this from happening.

Cancer Council NSW Albury community programs co-ordinator Melissa Nixon said the car, supported by the Relay for Life fundraiser, would made a huge difference to families. 

“If you don’t feel that you can get to where you need to be, the next point in your thinking is that you don’t go,” she said. 

“We don’t want to see that happening.

“We introduced one in Bendigo and Dubbo last year and that was taken up really well.

“We’re hoping to get that take-up here and I think we will, it being a free service.”

Ms Nixon said the car, which will begin servicing patients around June, will be eligible for people within a 45 minute radius. 

“People referred to the service will be those treating health professionals see as most in need,” she said. 

“We’re looking to do an early morning run at Corowa or Holbrook, wherever we might be going, picking up the client out there and bringing them into their treatment.

“While they’re having their treatment, it’s those around town jobs like Albury and Wodonga, then the patient calls the driver and they come to pick them up and take them back home. 

“Some of the treatments are five days over a period of five or six weeks.

Cancer Council NSW volunteer Elaine King said transport was one of the most common queries of people visiting the information centre in the Murray Valley Private Hospital. 

“Some of these small towns or communities like Sandy Creek don’t have a public bus service and many are too unwell to be travelling on a bus service,” she said. 

“I have found the husband might leave them here in town with a relative or they might have daughter who has to leave work in the middle of the day.

“It can be quite difficult for some families.

“There are other things like a taxi but they will feel more comfortable with a driver that’s had the tick of approval from the Cancer Council.”

The car will be run by volunteers trained in how best to provide support to people with cancer.

Ms Nixon said the service was one step towards bridging the gap in services available to people on the Border.

“When it comes to cancer full stop, people regionally or rurally based are always coming off second best compared to those in the metro areas,” she said. 

“It’s about whatever we can do to support regional and rural people.”