Wonderdrug battle mum appeals to Prime Minister

From the The Bolton News, first published Monday 27th Aug 2007.

A CANCER survivor is taking her fight to have potentially life-saving drugs made available free on the NHS, to Downing Street.

Mum-of-two Amanda D'Argue won her fight against breast cancer with the help of wonderdrug Herceptin.

But she had to battle to have the medication made available on the NHS and last year started treatment after winning a landmark case.

Now, a year after the National Institute for Clinical Excellence gave the go-ahead for the drug to be made available on the NHS, she has announced plans to hand a petition to Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, in a bid to see all cancer drugs made freely available to those who need them.

Mrs D'Argue, from Radcliffe, said: "The case of journalist and music guru, Tony Wilson, has highlighted just how many people cannot get the cancer drugs they need because of red tape and bureaucracy.

"The signatures I collected show the strength of feeling around this issue. I'm just one person asking my friends and family what they think about it and 2,500 people backed me."

Mrs D'Argue, a technical advisor with the Co-op bank, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in July 2005. She underwent a mastectomy and embarked on a gruelling course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, as well as fighting, along with fellow cancer sufferer, Alyson Cooper, to make Bolton health chiefs agree to pay for a year-long course of Herceptin.

Mrs D'Argue collected a petition to back her call to receive Herceptin treatment.

The Bolton Primary Care Trust initially refused to treat her and Mrs Cooper with Herceptin, but the decision was reversed when the Greater Manchester Strategic Heath Authority, now NHS North-west, ruled that the drug should be given to all women who would benefit from it, if they were registered with a Greater Manchester GP and having treatment at the Christie Hospital.

The 41-year-old started her Herceptin treatment in April last year and had her last session in February.

Six months on and she says she has never felt better, even completing the Race For Life in July with her nine-year-old daughter, Jessica.

Mrs D'Argue said: "Without Herceptin I'm not sure I would be alive now.

"It has helped me mentally as well because I know I've done absolutely everything I can to beat the cancer.

"I'm looking forward to the rest of my life now."

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