Just a year into retirement at a time when he should be enjoying life to the full, Mr Inatey is instead battling rare stage four bladder cancer and the outlook is grim. 

He has been through chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but neither had much impact on the cancer. 

So now it appears his only hope of extending his life another four or five years is treatment with melanoma drug Keytruda, which his doctors believe could also help patients with bladder cancer. 

As today’s story reports, though, the treatment comes at a hefty price - around $8000 a month, or $100,000 a year. 

The drug is not listed on either the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme or Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods and that means it remains well out of reach of the ordinary resident. 

A government spokesman clearly felt for Mr Inatey but it appears this is not a case of the drug being knocked back by the PBS but, rather, a case where the manufacturer has not sought PBS listing.

The spokesperson offered some alternative funding strategies for Mr Inatey to explore but, in the end, health funding is never an infinite resource. 

And that is the terrible reality for everyone in Mr Inatey’s situation. 

His friends and family have started a fundraising campaign to help meet the costs and he has many friends and former clients in the Bathurst region who would only too happy to help out. 

But that money cannot last forever, either.

We live in a world where science is making incredible breakthroughs in the treatment of cancer and other previous incurable diseases but those breakthroughs come at a cost.

And when the cost is beyond the capacity of residents to pay, the tragedy of the disease simply becomes more painful.

Mr Inatey has spent his adult life helping others. It’s now time for those people to help him.