DameTessa’s £240k cap to treat cancer
DAME Tessa Jowell is having pioneering £240,000-ayear treatment for brain cancer through the NHS.
The Labour peer made a memorable plea in the House of Lords for better access to new treatments.
Under her hat that day in January she was wearing a cap that fires tiny electrical currents into her malignant glioblastoma multiforme tumour in an attempt to halt its growth.
Dame Tessa has already had surgery, chemo and radiotherapy and is classed as treatment resistant.
The cost of the Optune cap is funded by its US manufacturers, Novacure.
A trial of 700 people showed 43% using it with drugs survived two years against 30% only on drugs.
Her husband David Mills said: “We are very grateful.”