Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Every minute’s vital.. give us cancer drugs
Grainne plea for vital treatment
A WOMAN who lost her mum to pancreatic cancer is backing calls for patients here to get access to a life-lengthening drug.
Grainne O’neill, from Armagh, lost her mum Anne, 54, to the disease in January 2014 – just months after falling ill.
The 24-year-old has since set up the fund Fight On For Annie, with dad Tom and siblings Sinead and Fergal, to create a lasting legacy for her mother.
The Fall actor Jamie Dornan wears his FOFA wristband with pride to show his support for the Co Armagh family’s cancer fund. To date they have raised £45,000, split between Pancreatic Cancer UK and Pancreatic Cancer Action.
Now the family are backing PCUK’S call for the NHS to allow eligible Northern Ireland patients with an advanced form of the disease routine access to Abraxane.
The drug can extend patients’ lives by two months on average, and sometimes much longer. It is currently available on the NHS in England, Scotland and Wales – but not here. A letter has been sent to Stormont’s Department of Health in a bid to bring Ulster in line with the rest of the UK.
Events co-ordinator Grainne said: “For pancreatic cancer patients, every day is precious – you cannot put a price on a loved one’s life.
“I want other families to get that extra time because it means the world, it is a little bit more hope. This cancer has been left behind for 40 years so it is time for us to be listened to, to try and improve the future – it’s our time now.
“Your postcode should not determine whether you get access to something like this – if we are all in the UK it should be even.”
Pancreatic cancer has the worst survival rate of any of the 20 most common cancers in the country, with a five-year survival rate of just 5.2%.
In 2015, there were 273 cases here and 228 deaths reported.