CANCER patient Vilma Dallal was today appealing Stoke-on-Trent Primary Care Trust's decision to refuse her drugs which were keeping her alive.

Mrs Dallal, aged 56, from Lightwood, Longton, has been denied Avastin since February.

The medication achieved spectacular results during the year the Stoke-on-Trent grandmother was on it.

Its £58,000-a-year price tag was picked up by her insurance company as the treatment steadily shrank tumours in her body.

But she has not taken it for three months since the funding ran out and Stoke-on-Trent PCT snubbed her plea for NHS cash to take its place.

Her appeal was to be heard by the trust's exceptional case panel today. It was being led by the Pamela Northcott Fund, a voluntary organisation providing advocacy and support for cancer patients denied access to new drugs.

Mrs Dallal's challenge alleges that the PCT failed to take guidance from local expert clinicians, did not properly assess the exceptionality of the case and breached her human rights.

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