KEY POINTS:
Heart problems forced Louis Salt to retire early from his job building coaches for what was the Auckland Regional Authority.
He stopped smoking, and "stayed home and mowed the lawns".
One day, he saw an advertisement in his local paper seeking volunteer drivers for the Auckland Cancer Society. He talked it over with wife Amelia and signed up, "just to help".
That was on February 27, 2004, and to date he's done more than 150 drives, shuttling patients to and from hospital at his own expense.
Mr Salt, 67, is one of more than 500 drivers in the Auckland Cancer Society's volunteer driving programme. From former cancer patients to those just wanting to lend a hand, the volunteers have provided transport for more than 4500 patients this year, covering an area stretching from Whangaparaoa to Papakura.
"They're the ones who literally keep the wheels turning. They work for free but not for nothing," said Marin Burgess, the society's community relations manager.
Mr Salt said his heart trouble was one factor in his volunteering. "I've been sick. I'm a Christian, and I like to do something to help sick people."
Not that he is a stranger to helping others. When his brother-in-law died in a road accident in Mission Bay in 1971, he thought nothing of supporting his five children and widow, even though he and his wife already had five children of their own, with another to follow.
Together the Salts, who were originally from Tonga, raised 11 children in their home. His selflessness extends to his driving for the Auckland Cancer Society. Volunteers are generally asked to drive once a week, but Mr Salt is only too happy to do more. A framed certificate from the Auckland Cancer Society commemorating the milestone of 100 drives hangs in the kitchen of his Otara home.
He does up to four drives a week, picking up patients from Otahuhu, Otara, Papatoetoe and Mangere, taking them to Auckland City Hospital.
Every six trips or so, he gets $40 in petrol vouchers from the Cancer Society, which doesn't cover costs.
Like all drivers, Mr Salt uses his own vehicle.
Patients are picked up at home, driven to hospital, and waited on until they complete treatment before being driven home. "I look after them. I don't worry too much about me."
