Juanita Bassett, affectionately known as Neetz, is not only a devoted New Zealand registered nurse and mother but also an indispensable pillar of the Northland music and entertainment community. Her life took a drastic turn when she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer known as Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumour (GIST). Juanita lives with a familial form of GIST, meaning the genetic change driving her cancer runs through her family. She has watched relatives face this exact disease, knowing more intimately than most what this battle entails.

"Juanita should not have to fundraise for the chance to live," says her husband, Warren Bassett. "She is my beautiful wife. She spends her working days full-time caring for other people in our health system, then goes home to be a mum, a wife, a daughter, and a sister. She has a family she loves and, by every measure that should matter, many years of life still ahead of her."

Recently, a follow-up CT scan and oncologist appointment confirmed devastating news: the disease has spread, and surgery is no longer a viable option. Her oncologist urgently applied for funding for a critical, life-prolonging chemotherapy medication—Ripretinib—which was recommended with high priority by Pharmac's own Cancer Treatments Advisory Committee back in 2022. Yet, Pharmac has once again declined the application.

With public options exhausted at home, the family looked across the Tasman for hope. But those doors have now slammed shut.

"A new day, a new week, more bad news," Warren shared in a heartbreaking update. "This morning the door to Australia has been closed, the access to cheaper medication that Juanita needs is not available. We have now made our first purchase of Ripretinib. Each day Juanita will swallow a $696 tablet to help keep her alive while our politicians blissfully bury their heads in the sand. Doesn't seem right, does it?"

Without public funding or international medical avenues left, this family is trapped in an impossible reality, forced to pay out-of-pocket for a medication that is approved and sitting on New Zealand shelves, but completely out of reach financially for an ordinary Kiwi family.

For someone like Juanita, this is not an abstract discussion about pharmaceutical policy, assessment processes, or budgets. It is time. Time to work, time for birthdays, Christmases, and family holidays. Time to simply be a mum, a friend, a wife - just a beautiful human. Time is everything.

This petition calls on Pharmac to immediately reconsider and overturn its funding decline. Rarity does not make a life less valuable. Juanita’s friends and family should not lose years with her simply because her form of cancer is uncommon, and a frontline New Zealand nurse should not have to spend her precious energy between nursing shifts organizing a fundraising campaign just to buy a chance to live.

Please sign this petition to stand with Warren, Juanita, and their family. Help us demand that our health system values human life and funds this vital medication. 

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This petition is organized jointly by Imogen Walker, Matt Baker, and the Whangārei Community.

To the House of Representatives of New Zealand:
We respectfully request that the House of Representatives:

1. Urge the Ministry of Health and Pharmac to immediately review and overturn the funding decline for Juanita Bassett’s targeted cancer therapy.
2. Direct Pharmac to establish an emergency, compassionate-use funding pathway for patients fighting rare, aggressive cancers with terminal prognoses.
3. Initiate a review into the widening funding gap for rare cancer medications between New Zealand and international standards.