A fright, now back to work for Allan Peachey

Allan Peachey had a tumour removed from his kidney after three or four years of listlessness. Photo / Chris Skelton

It was mid-way through last year that Allan Peachey developed a grey pallor and became increasingly listless and unenthusiastic.

He jokes now that he began to wonder if it was something to do with being an MP.

In fact, his situation was far more serious - a 12cm cancerous tumour was found on his right kidney and there were fears the cancer might have spread.

What followed was a nightmare few weeks for the Tamaki MP and former Rangitoto College principal, who is now preparing to return to work after almost five months off.

Looking back, he says he had not felt great for three to four years, how long the surgeons say the tumour could have been growing.

"It's not something that's picked up by having regular medicals and that sort of thing. You need a scan to pick it up or something dramatic to happen. So it had been growing there for goodness knows how long," Mr Peachey said.

"In the middle of last year, my body started to shut down. My mind shut down. I lost interest. I didn't want to eat. I was bored with everything. I couldn't think.

"And then - I don't know how graphic you want me to be - I got up to watch the All Blacks play that game we lost to South Africa and I passed some red stuff - it was more than blood - and I thought, 'This isn't flash'."

That was in early September.

"I got medical attention straight away and thank heavens I did, because within two weeks I was having the operation and having it [the kidney and the tumour] cut out."

A few days beforehand he'd been told the doctors believed it was restricted to the kidney, and that was confirmed after the operation.

The surgeons told him one in five people had only one kidney and many people died without even knowing "but they reckon you can function on half a kidney".

Mr Peachey had no chemotherapy or radiotherapy, which he describes as "a good news and a bad news story, because at the moment there's nothing there to treat, so there's a question mark as to what caused it".

"If there had been something, they could give me chemo, then they could zap it and that would be good. So I'm undergoing regular tests and scan and x-rays so they can keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't settle again.