The mother of an eight year old boy with a potentially deadly brain aneurysm is pleading with health officials to give him an operation.
His surgery has already been cancelled twice and his mother is afraid he will suffer brain damage or die if he does not get help soon.
An aneurysm is an excessive swelling of a wall of an artery and in Patrick Casey's case it could cause a stroke or even be fatal.
"I'm very worried...to live every day knowing your child's life could be taken like that," says his mother Vanessa Casey.
Vanessa's anxiety is compounded by the fact Patrick's operation has just been cancelled.
Auckland Hospital says it is sorry for the distress it has caused but explains that the operation has been delayed due to a shortage of surgical nurses - a problem it is working hard to fix
The hospital says it expects to have a new operation date for Patrick shortly which will likely be in June, or sooner if possible.
But while this is good news for Patrick, his mother is still not happy with the way they have been treated and believes that officials are gambling with her son's life.
