A HEALTH trust has refunded £13,000 to a cancer sufferer forced to pay for Herceptin privately, after telling her she can now have the drug on the NHS.

Viv Foster, pictured above, had lost two appeals in her seven-month battle for Herceptin on the NHS.

The 53-year-old, who had two operations to remove a tumour and completed six months of chemotherapy, was told her cancer was not big enough for funding from NHS Stoke-on-Trent.

But the trust has now reversed its decision after taking advice from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice).

Mother-of-two Viv, of Tudor Rose Way, Norton, Stoke-on-Trent, said: "When I was refused funding for Herceptin again in December, it was suggested the trust should go back to Nice and get the guidelines clarified.

"There appeared to be ambiguity between guidelines. Nice got back to the trust and said I should be treated with Herceptin.

"The trust has now sent me a cheque for just under £13,000, which was how much I had spent on Herceptin.

"I'm overjoyed. No-one else should have to go through what I have."

A routine mammogram two years ago found Viv had five millilitres of cancerous cells. She was told 10 millilitres was needed to meet the Nice guidelines.

Viv, who is now in remission, said: "It has caused a lot of unnecessary stress for me and my family, because you are fighting for treatment when you should be fighting the disease.

"But, since my story appeared in The Sentinel, I have had such a lot of support from people.

"My oncologist, Dr Murray Brunt, has been wonderful."

Viv's husband Steve today spoke of his relief after his wife got the drug.

The 44-year-old, a director at Burslem-based Excell Electrical Contractors, said: "It has been stressful and hopefully no-one else has to go through this. I want to thank everyone who has supported us."

Dot Griffiths, pictured left, aged 62, of Hartshill, who led a national campaign to make Herceptin available on the NHS in 2005, said: "I'm thrilled for Viv, but this was so unnecessary.

"It is slow torture to put someone through all this heartache and misery when they are fighting a life-threatening illness."

An NHS Stoke-on-Trent spokesman said the organisation had acted "thoroughly and fairly".

He said: "The individual funding request panel comprises both trust and independent professional members and uses all the information available to make the correct decision.

"Our own advisers and the specialist oncologist at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire have advised us that this is a very unique case."

Nice spokesman Dr Tonya Gillis said: "I haven't seen anything in the guidelines to specify the weight or size of a tumour, but the stage and type of cancer is clearly highlighted."