A Bristol grandmother with lung and brain cancer has won her battle with a health trust to fund a drug that is keeping her alive.

Carol Rummels, of Stoke Lodge, Bristol, and her husband Bruce have spent more £13,000 of their savings on the drug Tarceva in the last six months because it is not routinely available on the NHS.

But today, Mrs Rummels, recieved a letter from South Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust, which funds healthcare where she lives, explaining that she has won her appeal for the medication and will no longer have to pay for it.

Mrs Rummels was diagnosed with cancer in June last year, and was given two months to live, but Tarceva has already prolonged her life by more than 12 months.

She had been told that the PCT would not fund the drug, and the couple had been paying £1,500 a month for the medication.

But they successfully appealed the health trust's decision and are now celebrating.