A New Brunswick couple is calling on Premier David Alward to make good on his promise for an improved drug program.

Robert and Marion MacDonald have been married for 40 years but two years ago their world fell apart with a single diagnosis.

Marion MacDonald was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer and underwent surgery in July 2010.

She and her husband were shocked to learn that Temodal, which costs $2,600 a month, was not covered by their medical plan.

They also learned New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island are the only two provinces without a catastrophic drug plan.

Other provinces will sometimes cover expensive drugs not covered by health plans, if it would cause undue financial hardship on a patient’s family, but the MacDonalds had no such luck.

“We went to the New Brunswick government to see if there was any assistance there and we were told that we would have to liquidate any assets that we had, short of selling our house,” says Robert MacDonald.

The couple found hope in a campaign speech by Alward in Sept. 2010, just two months after McDonald’s surgery. In it, Alward had said it was time to create a catastrophic drug program in New Brunswick.

The MacDonalds even campaigned for the Conservatives in part based on that commitment, but almost two years later, the premier hasn’t come through on his promise.

“We feel a sense of urgency to deal with all of our commitments and that’s why we’re working hard everyday, whether that is number one to get the fiscal house in order to rebuild New Brunswick so that we have the ability to provide the services people need,” says Alward.

Opposition Leader Victor Boudreau says a plan is long overdue.

“It should have been last fall,” he says. “Now it doesn’t appear like it is going to even be this fall, so how long is it going to be?”

Marion MacDonald says dealing with cancer and the stress of having to find nearly $2,600 each month for the drug has been difficult.

“How long do I have to live? How long am I going to see my grandchildren? This is not what I planned on, but I make the best of it and I will continue and I will fight this disease and everything else,” she says.

The MacDonalds say they plan to continue lobbying for a catastrophic drug plan until one is in place. 

With files from CTV Atlantic's David Bell