KEY POINTS:
Alan Collecutt didn't take too much notice when he felt a small lump on his neck just beneath his ear in June.
A doctor friend knew better and advised the 75-year-old to get it checked. Tests in Whangarei showed it to be a cancerous tumour.
By July, he was at Auckland City Hospital getting the lump removed, which by then was slightly larger than a golf ball.
"It was getting bigger by the day," said his wife Janet. "It was just a whisker from being really, really nasty."
Surgery and recovery took a week, and the pair went home to Whangarei.
A week later they were back in Auckland for Mr Collecutt's 30 doses of radiation treatment.
For seven weeks, the Domain Lodge just across the road from the hospital was their home.
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Run by the Auckland Cancer Society, the 52-room motel is the home away from home for many out-of-town cancer patients needing treatment in Auckland. They stay free of charge, for as long as their treatment takes.
Domain Lodge manager Barbara Martin said the lodge took hundreds of patients each year, providing them and a support person with a place to stay during treatment.
A communal dining room on each floor allows patients to mingle.
"The idea of having that communal dining room is that they get out of their room and they meet people and make friends. It takes a lot of the stress away. They arrive here extremely stressed and they go away with this long list of friends."
For Mrs Collecutt, the staff eased a lot of her worries.
"I was quite bewildered. I didn't know what to expect. Alan was sick and he just wanted to know where his bed was, but all the staff, from housekeeping through to laundry, through to the girls at the desk and the nursing staff, were very supportive."
The first weeks of Mr Collecutt's treatment were "not too bad", but he got progressively sicker as the radiation took a toll.
It broke down his flesh and Mrs Collecutt had to apply cream to his neck four times a day to moisturise the area. The same area also had to be cleaned to remove the "melting" skin.
There were days when he couldn't even walk across the road from the hospital to the lodge.
Staff kept a tidy house, changing towels daily, and bed linen and shower curtains every four days, making sure those with already compromised immune systems weren't exposed to more bugs.
But more important than the creature comforts was the emotional support from everyone on staff.
"You felt that it was okay to say it's not going too good today. You never got the feeling, 'I'm busy and that's not my job'. You never got the hurry-up."
Mr Collecutt said it was like moving into a five-star hotel.
"It was such a surprise to know that such a place existed."
The pair are now back in Whangarei running their bed-and-breakfast, The Immigrant Leprechaun.
Mr Collecutt has recovered from most of the side-effects of radiation, although he will still need physiotherapy to correct a dropped right shoulder from the surgery.
Said Mrs Collecutt: "He gets very tired and the biggest job we have to deal with is his impatience."
