Published on Saturday 17 March 2012
A TERMINALLY ill cancer patient is following his beloved Chesterfield FC to Wembley, thanks to a life-extending drug not widely available on the NHS.
Rick Betton, 57, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010, said he is able to enjoy life thanks to the £3,500-a-month treatment, abiraterone – that he gets through his employers private health care plan.
But Rick, who will be cheering the Spireites on in the JP Trophy final with son, Ryan, 28, wants the NHS to reconsider its provision of the drug.
“It prolongs your life” he said. “I have been on it since November and it helps me get out and about. I had two lots of chemotherapy before and both worked for a while, but this was my last stop. With this new drug my life is open ended. It’s the price of life.”
He added: “Before I lost all my hair and was too tired to go out really. Now I can go out, I just went to visit my daughter in Bath
Rick will make the trip down to London North Wingfield .
Weekly trips
He said: “I was six when I saw them play for the first time and I still go each week. I decided to get a season ticket in the new ground and I have kept it going.
“We all went to the game in 1997 when we were robbed. Then we got hammered in the replay.”
Ryan – one of Rick and Rachel’s four children – added: “My first ever game was at Wembley with my dad, against Cambridge
Rachel, who will be at home on match day, said: “It’s hard to put in words but the drug is a life line and it has given us hope. It makes him be himself because that is who he has always been. He has always been a football fan and now he can still be that.”
A spokesperson for NHS Derbyshire County NHS Derbyshire County
A man with prostate cancer has said a drug he has been taking has given him his life back and is campaigning to keep it funded by the NHS.
Hugh Gunn, from Countesthorpe in Leicestershire, had had a failed course of chemotherapy and said he was too weak to put the rubbish out but within two days of taking Abiraterone he said his health started to improve.
The drug is only funded for another two years on the NHS and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the body that advises the NHS, has issued draft guidance saying it does not provide value for money.
Leicestershire cancer patient to get abiraterone
Hugh Gunn said getting abiraterone to treat his advanced cancer gave him hope for the future
A Leicestershire cancer patient has described the news that he is to receive a potentially life extending drug as the "best present ever".
Hugh Gunn, from Countesthorpe, had previously been refused abiraterone after multiple sessions of chemotherapy failed to treat prostate cancer.
The NHS East Midlands Strategic Health Authority had said funding for the drug was not clinical and cost effective.
But it has now reversed its decision after a case was presented to a panel.
The NHS said that after evidence was given on the "clinical benefits" of abiraterone at a review meeting, the medicine was approved and added to the region's drug list.
Positive future
Mr Gunn said: "Being on this drug now gives me hope for the future, before I was feeling hopeless."
Mr Gunn, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer on Christmas Eve in 2005, was recently told he had only had months to live.
"Without this drug I was very much at the end, abiraterone turns it into a chronic liveable disease from a terminal disease," he said.
Mr Gunn's wife, Kate, said they were "so thrilled" and could not believe that he was now getting abiraterone to treat his advanced cancer.
Mrs Gunn said the family could now enjoy the festive period and look forward to a more positive year ahead. One in which Hugh could "look forward to living life".
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