Grandmother plea for cancer drug

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/kent/8026227.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The family of a woman with terminal cancer are paying thousands of pounds for drugs to prolong her life, because she is not entitled to them on the NHS.

Evelyn McCarroll, 58, of Gravesend, has been told her lung cancer is incurable. She has already had cancer of the cervix and nose.

In January, her family started paying £1,700 a month for the drug Tarceva.

West Kent Primary Care Trust, which is now considering her third appeal, said it had considered her case carefully.

A spokesman for the trust said health chiefs took on board all Mrs McCarroll's circumstances before reaching their decision.

Mrs McCarroll's fight for the drug has won the backing of the Roy Castle Lung Castle Foundation.

Really, if she can benefit from the drug, then it seems very unfair that she isn't able to receive it Dr Rosemary Gillespie

Dr Rosemary Gillespie, spokeswoman for the foundation, said Tarceva guidelines set by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence provided for first level and second level treatment.

But she added: "It doesn't mean that people who could benefit from third level treatment should not get the drugs."

She said: "Really, if she can benefit from the drug, then it seems very unfair that she isn't able to receive it.

"Very often when these decisions are made, they're made on financial grounds, and that's very, very cruel for patients."

Mrs MCarroll said: "I've got grandchildren that I want to see grow up."

And adding that she will die as soon as she stops taking the tablets, she said: "They're playing with your life aren't they? That's what they're doing."

Evelyn McCarroll's family are paying more than Â£1,700 a month for drugs