Tanya Filia​, who has beaten the odds and outlived doctors' estimates of her life expectancy, is now pushing for the government (opens new window) to subsidise natural treatments.

Unfortunately this kind of story is all too often found to be newsworthy. A single case is reported on as if it is proof of something. In this case, it seems likely that Tanya was lucky enough to have a spontaneous remission of her brain cancer - or maybe just a hiatus. She has not been back for scans, so it's not clear what her current status is.

However, Tanya has misattributed this lucky event to her choice to use rongoa, vitamin C and other natural therapies and is now trying to convince others to do the same. A documentary is due out later this year which chronicles her change in diet and lifestyle.

Tanya is due to meet MPs in June to ask them to start subsidising unproven treatments for cancer. Hopefully the MPs will listen politely, but not be swayed by anecdote.