West Yorkshire mum wins cancer drug fight

A West Yorkshire woman with inoperable breast cancer, who was initially told she was not allowed a drug which could prolong her life, has now been told that she will get the drug after all.

Trudy Cusworth, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in 2006, had been told that, though her cancer was inoperable, chemotherapy could still help and her consultant at St James’s Hospital in Leeds said that a course of the drug Avastin could slow the progress of the disease.

However the decision on whether to pay for the drug had to go to a panel of other doctors at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and they rejected the application for special funding. This led to Mrs Cusworth facing the prospect of either applying to the new Emergency Cancer Drugs Fund or raising the £20,000 cost herself.

She applied to the new fund and has now been told by her consultant that the application was successful and she will receive the Avastin drug. She had already started fundraising and has said that money which has already been donated will be saved in case it is needed in the future.

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