Martin Crowe backs fellow cancer battler's charity

Anton Kurala meets Martin Crowe as he takes part in the Walk for Hope. Photo / Jason Dorday

Cricket legend Martin Crowe met fellow cancer sufferer Anton Kuraia yesterday during the police officer's Walk for Hope, which is raising awareness and money for fighting the disease naturally.

Crowe, who has terminal cancer, has been in touch with the Whangarei constable, who in May 2013 was given weeks to live when he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.

But Mr Kuraia has been in remission since August that year after he began taking high doses of vitamin C intravenously.

So far the treatment, which costs $210 a session, has cost Mr Kuraia about $8,000, but he says it has saved his life.

"When I left the [hospital treatment] programme in December 2013, the last thing the doctor said to me was I'd be dead within six months.

"That time was up in June last year and I'm still here."

Insurance and fundraising paid for Mr Kuraia to continue the vitamin C treatment, so the father-of-three set up a charity to increase awareness of alternative cancer remedies, including an overhauled diet, and to raise money to help subsidise high-dose vitamin C for other cancer sufferers.

Mr Kuraia wouldn't say if Crowe had tried the controversial treatment, but last month the former New Zealand captain said he would not undergo further chemotherapy for his lymphoma, instead opting for natural remedies to combat the disease.

The pair met at lunch time yesterday at Queens Wharf, where Mr Kuraia, dressed as Lawrence of Arabia in tribute to T.E. Lawrence's desert pilgrimage, arrived in a police boat thanks to colleagues who ferried him across the harbour.

Mr Kuraia said he and Crowe discussed the walk and shared ideas.

"He's certainly a beautiful man and it's a privilege to have met him. He admires what we're doing and loves the message of the foundation."

That message will be taken to Parliament's health select committee on March 3 after Mr Kuraia completes his walk from Whangarei to Wellington.

He wants the Government to consider subsidising intravenous vitamin C and make fruit and vegetables cheaper for cancer sufferers.