Immediately after vitamin C saved his life, Otorohonga farmer Allan Smith says he kept a low profile while the treatment was registered as a medicine in New Zealand.

Now that's done he's quite happy to talk about it – how he was saved from swine flu by intravenous vitamin C that doctors were compelled to give him.

When all traditional medical options had failed, Allan Smith's life was saved by vitamin C.

Allan's a Tauranga Coastguard member and was staying on his boat, Oscar, at the marina with his wife Sonia when he got sick.

Their tale is one of a struggle with the medical establishment.

Sonia's struggle began when the ambulance officers she'd called had no wheelchair or stretcher, and had to support Allan for the long walk from the end of the pier.

Diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia, Allan was taken from Tauranga to Auckland where he went into a coma and was put on life support.

Allan had been in a coma for three weeks and doctors were calling for the machines keeping him alive to be turned off.

The idea to try intravenous vitamin C came from Allan's brother in law, Jimmy, says Sonia.

'He's been taking it for about eight years and he was at the meeting when they said they wanted to turn him off.”

Jimmy was the one who contacted the overseas medical specialists using intravenous vitamin C. They put him in touch with a New Zealand doctor importing the product.

Getting the doctors to administer this treatment was not easy for the family.

They found themselves obtaining a legal opinion telling medical staff they were in breach of the Hippocratic Oath if they didn't administer the vitamin C treatment.

The treatment started and Allan wowed the critics as he came out of the coma.

He was expected to be three months in recovery and walked out 13 days later. He also has no further signs of leukemia with which he was also diagnosed while he was in the coma.

Allan's speaking about his experiences of just over a year ago at Baypark on May 27.

Starting at 7pm he will give fuller detail about the fight with the medical establishment to save his life.

The evening is a fundraiser for the Tauranga Volunteer Coastguard with tickets available from the Coastguard offices at Sulphur Point or from the Bayfair information centre.

Tickets to hear Allan tell his story are $15, with all proceeds going to the Coastguard. There are 500 tickets available.

Enter the competition to win tickets to Allan's presentation here.