Half a decade later, there are 20 trails and hundreds of patients at the cutting edge of the medical field, which is crucial to save patients travelling to and from major centres for treatment.

The explosion in trials in Orange has largely come from donations from businesses and organisations across the city, a tradition which continued on Friday as Orange City Rugby Club donated $6500 to the hospital.

The money was raised as part of the club's Ladies' Day in April, which unveiled a new scoreboard named after club stalwart Jordan Cheney, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2015.

Lions club captain Will Ryan, flanked by teammates from the club, said Mr Cheney was one of the club's "driving forces", and there was no question that the money was going to the right place.

"We use our Ladies' Day for a fundraiser and we go to different charities each year. This year was a no-brainer," Mr Ryan said.

"It means a lot, giving back to the local community with local trials going on and helping out locals instead of them having to travel to the bigger cities."

The Ladies' Day game involved the club wearing purple socks to support cancer research and the Cheney family, who have been involved with the club for decades.

The club has also committed to using Ladies' Day as a fundraiser for the hospital each year.

Orange Health Service medical oncologist Peter Fox said the connection had come through one of his patients Dot Tandie, who had donated money intended for her onto the oncology unit.

The money raised by the club will go towards gastrointestinal trials.

"This is one of the things we often see is big money often ends up in the bigger cities, it's really wonderful people in Orange are able to give towards further research within the local community," Dr Fox said.

"This is absolutely critical to have locally available clinical trials ... [we now have] hundreds of patients who have had access to new and emerging medical treatment.

"Before we had locally available clinical trials the last majority of patients wouldn't have access to any clinical trials and they'd just be receiving standard treatment.

"Now we have trials available in the community we can offer all these emerging therapies to local patients."