Mr Wheeler [pictured with Dr Rob Zielinski] said it had prolonged his life but it had come at a great personal cost.

Initially the travel was fortnightly and now it is every three weeks.

“That’s about 80 trips to Sydney and it really knocks you about,” he said.

“You also have to factor in the cost of accommodation and the toll it takes on your family and yourself.”

He drives down but after the treatment his wife drives home.

They leave early and arrive home late.

Mr Wheeler has had to do it because all the clinical cancer trials, the chance to be treated with radical new drugs that might just save his life, are all done in medical centres in the capital cities.

Up till now.

The Western NSW Local Health District launched a game-changing method of treatment, known as Teletrials, at Orange hospital on Wednesday.

It will allow regional patients to go to their local hospital or cancer unit to receive the drugs and communicate with doctors and nurses in Orange via teleconferencing.

Dr Zielinski has hailed the breakthrough, in which the Orange Clinical Trials Unit [OCTU] has been approved to co-ordinate Teletrials, as an Australian-first.

He said for too long regional patients had missed out on services available to patients in capital cities.

“The majority of my patients decline a trial in Sydney because of the travel and costs associated,” he said.

“This is very challenging for me to accept as a physician and I often ask why my patients must miss out.

“If this Australian-first pilot is successful the method of running clinical trials will radically change for ever.”

And it further affirms Orange as a centre of medical excellence.

The OCTU has already been awarded the Premiers Award for being an outstanding trials unit.

This week’s events, in which the first patient was enrolled in the Teletrials program, further enhances the region’s reputation.

Orange might be known for fine food and wine.

But it is also renowned for the quality of its health services.