NHS worker must raise £120,000 for cancer treatment or ‘wait to die’

One NHS worker with a lethal cancer Trying to raise £120,000 for life-extending treatment.

Jamie Scott has been told she can’t use chemosaturation therapy on the health service, even though it has been approved NHS Use with “special needs”.

The 49-year-old man, who worked in communications at an NHS mental health trust, was diagnosed with the eye disease melanomaIn 2011, also known as eye cancer.

But despite surgery to remove his eye, the cancer has spread and is found in his liver.

So far, she has raised £6,700, but she “doesn’t know” how she will raise the total amount needed for the treatment, also known as percutaneous hepatic perfusion, a high dose. Chemotherapy Delivered directly to his liver.

She is told that therapy will give her more time with her husband, but she will only be able to achieve this by raising the money herself.

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“I’m feeling a little discouraged,” she said.

“There will come a time when there will be too much tumor in my liver and treatment will no longer be possible, so by the time the NHS decide what they want to do, it may be too late.

“I’m trying to raise money – I have a lovely co-worker, she’s really trying to help me, she’s done bake sales for me, she’s made t-shirts with QR codes for my Just Giving page.

“Raising £120,000 seems impossible. I don’t know what I’m going to do.

“I’m feeling really frustrated right now because my oncologist said it’s a gold standard treatment but he can’t refer me for it.”

She said that if she did not receive treatment or a clinical trial, she would be “waiting to die”.

“It’s horrible. I can’t think about the future,” she said.

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of eye melanoma UK (OMUK) is calling for action from NHS leaders to help patients get the treatment, which has helped control tumors in almost nine in 10 patients. melanoma It has spread to the liver, with some patients living for years.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) say that patients with ocular melanoma can receive the treatment under “special arrangements” while more evidence is collected on the clinical effectiveness and value for money of the procedure.

But it warns that current evidence shows there are “serious, well-recognized” complications associated with the treatment.

against the norm ChemotherapyChemosaturation isolates the liver from the rest of the body during treatment, allowing larger doses to be given with fewer side effects.

OMUK said UK patients should be able to access the treatment through the NHS, which costs £40,000 per cycle, with most patients requiring at least three rounds.

It says international patients can travel to Britain for treatment, but British patients are being kept out unless they can raise the money.

Joe Gumbs, chief executive of OMUK, said: “NHS EnglandFailure to act is condemning patients with the least survivable cancers to raise funds for the only treatment proven to extend their lives.

“The system is broken. We are calling on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to intervene before more lives are lost unnecessarily.”

Dr Neil Pearce, a retired liver surgeon who works for University Hospital Southampton, said: “Chemosaturation is usually a well-tolerated procedure with a comparatively short recovery time, giving patients the chance to return to their lives and families quickly.

“It is deeply unfair that patients in the UK cannot access it regularly on the NHS. Patients travel from all over the world, yet UK patients are left to self-fund, which is not an option for most.

“Inequity in access is inevitable and needs to be addressed urgently.”

OMUK said around 600 people are diagnosed with ocular melanoma each year in the UK, and half of those people go on to develop malignant secondary disease in the liver.

NHS England We have been contacted for comment.

You can find Ms. Scott’s fundraising page Here,