Pancreatic cancer is among the deadliest of cancers - from diagnosis to death is normally four to nine months. But early detection can be the key to survival.
Newshub National Correspondent Amanda Gillies spoke to a survivor fighting for an early screening programme, and a teenager trying to make a difference.
With her pet cat at her feet, and red brush in hand, 13-year-old Paige Badger brushes her mop of thick healthy hair. By next month it will all be gone. But she has no regrets. She's doing it for her nan.
"I think she would be really proud of me," she smiles.
Her nan, Chris Hudson, died in February, just three months after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Paige is now shaving off her hair in June to raise money to fight the deadly disease. Already, more than $2500 is in the bank.
"There's a very small survival chance for this cancer so I want to raise money to help research and finding a cure for it or at least make the survival chance better."
Her nan was just 67 years old when she was finally diagnosed, her only symptoms were a sore back and mild nausea.
For her final six weeks, she slept 22 hours a day.
"It was a pretty horrific cancer to die from," said Paige's mum Tracey Badger. "She lost a lot of weight, she stopped eating, it was really hard to see someone you love so much to go through that."
Once diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, most patients survive - on average - between four and nine months.
But Auckland woman Nyree Smith is defying those odds.
She has stage four pancreatic cancer. It's terminal. Based on the stats, she should be dead.
But chemo and a mind-boggling amount of drugs and supplements are keeping her alive, nearly seven years after diagnosis.
Now to save or lengthen the lives of other patients, she's advocating for an early screening programme.
"There is no screening right now. Simple," she said.
First up, she wants blood tests and ultrasounds for those presenting with a backache, stomachache, weight loss and a change in bowel movements, lasting more than six weeks.
"If we can screen for it and if we can catch it sooner, people don't have to die, it's easy, it's easy to get rid of it."
Which begs the question, why aren't we screening now?
"It's too hard, it's in the too-hard basket," Nyree said.
We put her suggestion to Health Minister Dr Shane Reti.
"It's really complex, it's a bit like ovarian cancer unfortunately - pancreatic cancer doesn't innovate well, so you get the signals that something is wrong late," he said.
"The reality is there is no widespread national screening programmes for pancreatic cancer around the world... so you can tell from the knowledge I have on this, it's something I have looked at.
"At this point it's not an active workstream I have but I continue to watch offshore."
Nyree will soon head to Canada, where she wants to investigate an AI-powered blood test, which recently saved a woman's life, revealing very early stages of pancreatic cancer. It was successfully removed.
"The surgeon who removed it said I have never seen pancreatic cancer this early," Nyree said. "And this all through this test. If we could get this test in New Zealand... it would be game-breaking."
The test costs about NZ$850. Ultimately, Nyree says, it's a small cost for life.
