Hereford Times (KC) 10 Mar 09
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£15,000 cancer drug is Hereford dad's chance of life
A YOUNG Hereford family are looking at having to raise £15,000 urgently to fund a drug which could prolong their father’s life.
They claim Herefordshire Primary Care Trust has refused “point blank” to pay for the drug, which may offer his only hope for survival.
A further review of his case is set for March 20 but time may be running out for the desperately- ill cancer sufferer.
“We were told last week that, if we could raise the funds, my father could go on a threemonth trial to see if the drug Temsirolimus (Torisel) was effective. But we were warned we could not wait around to do it,” said 25-year-old Nicola McGarvie.
Her father, Tony Howells, aged 52, of Belmont, was diagnosed with kidney cancer last September and has had surgery at Oswestry and treatment at Hereford and Cheltenham hospitals.
Now he has been told he has only months to live – and the cancer drug could be a lifeline.
“I was devastated when I learned I had cancer, made doubly difficult in that it spread to my spine, paralysing me, leaving me only able to move a few steps. Even so I thought I had a few years left, with treatment.
“I have been told by my consultant that Torisel is the only drug that can help me now and, unless I have treatment as soon as possible, it will be too late,”
Tony told the Hereford Times.
“I am desperate for this drug as I am only 52 and have four children and two small grandchildren with whom I want to spend as much time as possible.”
Nicola added:“Without it, they say there is nothing else they can do and we are desperate, wondering whether we can start fund-raising for the money.”
She and her brothers, Mitchell, Ryan and Dane, say they feel helpless and do not know what to do since the PCT has turned down their father’s request twice.
“If we lived in another part of the country, he would probably have been successful,” says Nicola.
“He has worked at Bulmers ever since he left school and paid all his dues. Now the NHS won’t help with the money that could save his life.”
Her father, a keen golfer at Belmont, began to feel unwell last summer but was told it was back ache and he should keep mobile.
“But, in September he was in such pain, he called an ambulance and was taken to hospital,”
she said.
He was diagnosed with kidney cancer, which had spread to the spine, and the tumour was removed in Oswestry.
Mr Howells has been treated at Hereford County Hospital and at Cheltenham,, spending six weeks at Hillside in Hereford before returning home before Christmas.
His daughter said he was confined to a wheelchair, on painkillers and was very angry, not only about the time taken to diagnose his condition, but the fact he was not now being given the chance to extend his life.
Hereford MP Paul Keetch, who has been consulted by the family, said he was dealing with three cases in Hereford where patients were seeking treatment funded by the PCT.
He said the health authority claimed decisions were made on a clinical basis and he could not comment on those.
“But I do know there is suspicion from people that decisions are made on cost and families find that very distressing.
I think the PCT should come clean and make the situation quite clear,” he said.
In a statement, NHS Herefordshire said the cost of the drug had not been considered, only whether Temsirolimus was classed as safe, proven and effective by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
The drug was not recommended by NICE and there was no specific local evidence for it to go against the guidance and provide it as an exception.
But NHS Herefordshire promised it would take a third look at the request from Mr Howells with a new panel of health professionals considering his case on March 20.
“NICE has been assessing Temsirolimus, together with a range of other drugs, for the treatment of advance renal cell carcinoma and will publish further guidance in March,” said the statement.
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