If you think our Health Care system is Bad Read This

[RandyW]

It is things Like this that really break my heart because I know I can not do too much to make a difference in some places, and wish I could.

Gran denied NHS treatment dies of cancer Apr 4 2007

A GRANDMOTHER who was denied potentially life-saving NHS treatment has lost her five-year battle with cancer.

Jacqueline Davies, 52, died at home in Furnace Green on Friday with her family by her side.

Her daughter-in-law Sam Davies said the family was heart-broken by the loss and hit out at health bosses for their lack of support.

She said: "It's difficult to say if she would still be alive if the Primary Care Trust had given her the treatment earlier when her body could cope with it. The whole family is devastated.

"The Trust was very cold with us and just said they couldn't do anything. They were very blunt and no one offered anything else to help us."

Mrs Davies,who was known as Jacky, began her battle in 2001 when she was forced to pay £10,000 for two of her four chemotherapy treatments after doctors said she had only six months to live.

The brave grandmother fought the cancer and again paid for treatment when it returned in her lung three years later.

But last September she was told she had a tumour at the base of her brain.

Cold-hearted health chiefs refused to pay for a drug called Mitomycin C, leaving Mrs Davies to find £15,000 to fund her treatment.

She had appealed to West Sussex Primary Care Trust - which turned down her request last year.

Earlier this year it became obvious that even if she could raise the money for the drugs it would be too late as the cancer had become terminal.

Mrs Davies' grieving family said she was a born fighter. Sam added: "She was such a positive, wonderful person. She was the most amazing woman I ever met. She never gave up.

"There is nothing we can do about it now but we really hope no family ever has to go through something like this. If anything can come out of this it should be that no family has to exprience what we have."

Sam added: "Jacky was cared for over the past few months by the amazing staff at St Catherine's Hospice and more recently by the equally amazing staff at Marie Curie, which we are all very grateful for."

A service to celebrate Mrs Davies' life will be held on Thursday April 12 at St Margaret's Church in Ifield.

Her family are asking that, instead of flowers, donations should be made to St Catherine's Hospice instead.

Nobody from the PCT was available for comment as the News went to press.

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