CANCER drug campaigner Kay Hopkins has been told that a tumour on her kidney is shrinking.

The 71-year-old, pictured, was given the news after going for scans at specialist Christie Hospital in Manchester.

The progress has been attributed to the effects of a programme of the drug Sutent, which Kay unsuccessfully battled to have funded by NHS North Staffordshire.

After continued refusals by the health service, Kay finally began taking the drug at the end of January after specialists put her forward for medical trials at Christie's.

And four months and three scans later, she has now been told the tablets are having the desired effect.

Kay, from Willowcroft Way, Harriseahead, said: "When they gave me the news I was overjoyed because I did not have any sleep the night before, wondering if it was working or not.

"It is a waiting game because when you start on the tablets you can't expect results overnight."

Staff have not told the great-grandmother exactly by how much the tumour has shrunk after they viewed results following the third of Kay's six-weekly scans.

But after the first scan, they did tell the former nurse that it had reduced by 2cm; she expects a clearer picture to emerge after the next scan in a fortnight's time.

Kay added: "They will not tell me as yet how much it is shrinking, but it is definitely working and they were pleased."

Kay and her family waged a high-profile campaign to win funding for the drug, which, at the time, had not been approved by the National Institute for Healthcare and Clinical Excellence (Nice).

As well as meeting Nice's bosses, she took a 4,000-name petition to 10 Downing Street in a bid to get the drug doctors said was the best bet of reducing the life-threatening tumour to an operable size, or a level where it can be safely left.

Family friend Jackie Webb, who has supported Kay throughout, said doctors are pleased with her progress and she is coping well with side-effects of the drug.

They have included a sore mouth, nausea, sore hands, fainting spells and nose bleeds.

Kay has also lost weight, but says the symptoms are a small price to pay for the treatment she battled for. Jackie, landlady at The Furlong, Tunstall, said: "Kay and Paul are overjoyed. She feels more positive now to look forward, which she did not dare to do before."

Cancer drug campaigner Julia Black, from Shropshire, has been supporting Kay's fight and said the fact the drug is working vindicates what experts said initially.

She added: "Kay should never have been forced to go through what she did and it should never have come to this.

"She should have had it a year earlier when she was first told she needed it.

"Even when Kay knew she was going on the trial she carried on fighting for other people. What she did was incredibly brave and the news she has had is fantastic."

Kay has been told she will remain on Sutent for as long as it is maintaining her quality of life.