Toddler ‘on his deathbed’ before leukaemia diagnosed: Mum calls for better access to blood tests

Saturday, 11 July 2026

A West Coast mum is calling for easier access to blood tests no matter where in the country you live, after her 2-year-old’s leukemia wasn’t picked up until he was in critical condition.

Westport mother-of-three Tessa Robertson, partner Drew White, and 11-month-old Ryder have been staying in Ronald McDonald house in Christchurch for about three months now, to be with Zander while he undergoes chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a serious blood cancer.

Their 5-year-old, Hunter, was staying with granddad Neil Robertson in Nelson so he could start school. The family expected to be in Christchurch until at least early next year, and friends had set up a Givealittle to help with ongoing costs.

For Zander, it started with an ear infection. The toddler was in “a lot of pain”, and despite four medical appointments and antibiotics, his symptoms dragged on for two weeks, Tessa Robertson said. They became “suspicious things weren’t OK”.

He did eventually recover, but warning signs kept coming. He grew pale, lost his appetite, and became “unsteady on his legs”.

A mark on his chest, which initially looked like a scratch, developed into an abscess. Antibiotics were prescribed again, but it didn’t clear.

Robertson insisted on a blood test from the GP. She was told she would have to book this herself at a laboratory in Greymouth, 90 minutes away.

When lab staff there failed to draw blood, Robertson sat in her car and cried.

“I went and sat in my car somewhere in Greymouth with my baby, and cried and rang dad and said, ‘they didn’t get any blood. What the heck am I supposed to do now?’”

Five days later, Zander took a turn for the worse. A locum doctor in Westport took one look at him and told them to rush him to Greymouth’s Te Nīkau Hospital. Blood results came back within an hour.

“He was in an absolute critical way … you could quite fairly say he was on his deathbed.”

Zander had “no immune system” left. He needed emergency blood transfusions and IV antibiotics, and he and his dad were flown to Christchurch Hospital.

He started an intensive course of chemotherapy, and was still on a high-risk treatment path.

The prospect of returning to Westport made Robertson uneasy.

“Having three little boisterous little boys, I was already worried about bringing up kids in our little town on the Coast,” she said.

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“But now … if Zander gets an infection, he needs to get antibiotics in him within the hour. We can’t even get to Greymouth that quickly… [I am] worried about healthcare there, and I’m not the only one that feels that way.”

Robertson said she did not feel heard when it seemed so clear Zander needed further testing.

“Parents shouldn’t have to push that hard for a blood test.

“How critical do little ones have to be? Or does anyone have to be? We shouldn’t be in our last hour before we get a simple blood test.”

She wanted them to be more easily accessible, no matter where someone lived.

“Especially when people are concerned for themselves, or … little ones that don’t have a voice for themselves, and the parents can see the kids are clearly unwell. It needs to be a lot easier and taken more seriously to just order a blood test.”

‘We should be doing better’ for rural communities

GenPro is an organisation representing general practices. Chairperson Angus Chambers said blood testing wasn’t usually included in standard Health New Zealand contracts, and instead was often contracted to laboratories.

These aren’t located in every town, and while some rural practices could offer blood tests, this often came with a fee - another potential barrier.

“It just highlights a more general problem with our rural system, which has been underfunded and actually continues to be underfunded… We really need to address those fundamental underlying things to provide more than blood tests, the whole suite of general practice services.”

The West Coast was particularly poorly serviced, he said. Northland and parts of Southland faced similar access issues.

With smaller veins and a tendency to be uncooperative, drawing children’s blood took extra skill at the best of times.

Chambers said while potential solutions existed, like mobile blood-taking services or funded upskilling for rural practice staff, there were economic and practical constraints.

“People in rural areas accept some of the good things about rural and some of the bad things … but it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try and address them.

“We should be doing better as a system to support the rural communities, that’s for sure. And unfortunately, that's going to require substantial investment.”

Health NZ community care clinical director Dr Sarah Clarke said they acknowledged the concerns raised by families, and recognised how worrying it could be when a child was unwell.

“We expect children to have access to appropriate assessment and investigations when they are needed.”

Decisions about blood tests were made by clinicians supported by paediatric clinical guidelines. There was no set age threshold, and they could be performed at any age, “when clinically indicated”.

“Parents and caregivers know their children best, and we encourage whānau to raise any concerns they have with their healthcare provider, particularly if a child is not improving, their symptoms are worsening, or something does not feel right.”

Clarke said laboratory services were available in many cities and towns, although exact arrangements varied between communities.

“In smaller communities where there is no local collection centre, blood samples can often be collected by general practice teams and transported to laboratories through established courier networks.

“Health New Zealand works with laboratory and primary care providers to ensure people can access essential diagnostic services, including blood tests, regardless of where they live.”