“And after six years and battling kidney disease and the loss of my son, I’ve had a bloody tough time of it, and I just know the dear old taxpayer’s paying my wages, and I cannot do the job that I once did with the kidney disease that I have.
“I do dialysis three days a week now, because my kidneys are completely failed, and it’s just not fair on the people that I represent and the people that pay my wages.”
Cameron had plans to return to Parliament after a kidney donor was lined up for a transplant earlier this year.
He expected to be able to return to work in March or April, but two days before Christmas his heart failed, making him no longer eligible for the donor list.
“Everything changed at the moment, I was taken off the transplant list, and I sit in this purgatory of unknown.
“It’s a real ‘bugger me’ moment where you swear at the sky and consternation and don’t get any answers back.”
He said he’s been in recovery and rest mode since and been unable to return to his work in Wellington.
“I want to do best by Kiwi folk, and the people I certainly love, which are rural people, and I simply can’t do it.”
‘Long way to go’ on rural mental health support
Cameron said his experience of the health system was “incredible gratitude and immense disappointment”.
He said he doesn’t know where the country’s $33 billion of funding for health goes, given how many people are waiting for help at hospitals where emergency departments are full.
“For the average user, we spend an inordinate amount of money and sometimes the results are not what you would want or expect.
“Certainly in my case… I rang my specialist and didn’t get a reply for five days. One would argue at that point, with all the money being spent, that professionalism is being lost, and maybe in that instance it was.”
Cameron lost his son Brody to suicide in 2024 and, as a farmer, has been an advocate for the rural community and mental health.
He said there’s still a “long way to go” to get the right assistance to rural men suffering mental health issues.
“Isolated rural young men, often working long, long hours in quite difficult jobs, and they find themselves isolated and don’t have the wherewithal to reach out.
“We still have a long way to go and the $2b we spend on mental health in part should be spent in rural New Zealand,” he said.
Where to get help:
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.