MICHAEL Hartshorn now spends most of his weekends sleeping due to the cumulative effects of cancer treatment.
The 54-year-old Lorn resident, who has been undergoing a combination of chemotherapy and radiation treatment for lung cancer, has been travelling to the Calvary Mater Newcastle from Monday to Friday for weeks.
But he said the news that Maitland would soon have a dedicated radiation oncology centre would have a significant impact on the lives of Hunter cancer patients.
"The cumulative effects of the radiation really wears you down, and the chemo adds to that fatigue," he said.
"For the first couple of weeks, it was OK. My knowledge of classical music has increased, because I've been listening to classic FM on the drives. But you get very fatigued close to the end, and now, the weekends are just for sleep. I wake up for a couple of hours to try and watch the Melbourne Storm win, then go back to sleep.
"Getting a centre up in Maitland would really help by reducing the travel time."
The Icon Cancer Centre will open at Maitland Private Hospital in August, but its chief executive said it would be open to both public and private patients. Mark Middleton said the incidence of cancer in the Maitland region was higher than the national average. The facility would have the capacity to treat 900 new patients a year.
"Medicare covers 85-to-90 per cent of a course of radiation therapy for all patients, whether they are public or private," he said. "We're bringing world class services close to where people live, and Maitland is only going to continue to grow."
