Ex-Shortland Street star Nancy Brunning crowdfunding 'life prolonging' drug

Nancy Brunning as Nurse Jaki Manu in Shortland Street

Friends of Nancy Brunning have begun crowdsourcing "life prolonging" drugs for the actress.

The campaign has been set up to purchase "a special drug," that they say is known is to extend life, but that is not currently subsided. The cost of the medication is $7000 a month.

Nancy Brunning

The illness or medical condition that Brunning has been diagnosed with is not specified, but in their campaign notes they write that they "want to buy more time with her," and that the actress has received the "go ahead" from doctors to take the unnamed drug.

The original cast of Shortland Street, Brunning pictured, center left

The campaign is running on boosted and has already hit 42% of its target of $67,000 with 32 days left to run.

Brunning is an acclaimed New Zealand actress who shot to nationwide fame as part of Shortland Street's original cast. She played Nurse Jaki Manu for two years on the popular soap.

Nancy Brunning in a scene from the 1999 New Zealand film What Becomes of the Broken Hearted, sequel to Once Were Warriors, based on the book by Alan Duff.

After leaving Shorty she continued acting and also forged a successful career as a playwright. Her standout performance in What Becomes of the Broken Hearted saw her receive best actress award at the NZ Film Awards in 1999 and she was nominated again a decade later for her role in Strength of Water.