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Search forBristol dad's plea: Let me see my daughter grow
Tuesday, July 22, 2008, 09:00
Jack Rosser was diagnosed with cancer of the kidney three days after his daughter, Emma, was born last July.
He says that a drug which could prolong his life for up to five years is his only hope of seeing his daughter walk on her own, talk or even spend her first day at school.
Mr Rosser, of Kingswood, has been told by his consultant that Sutent, which stops cancer cells growing, could prolong his life by up to five years and would buy him more time with his daughter.
Sutent does not have approval from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), so health bosses are not obliged to prescribe it on the NHS.
Earlier this month the Evening Post told how another cancer patient, 55-year-old Gary Humphries, from Knowle, won a last-ditch appeal hearing persuading Bristol Primary Care Trust to pay for him to be prescribed Sutent.
But South Gloucestershire PCT has turned down Mr Rosser's application for the drug at an exceptional funding panel.
The 56-year-old is now preparing an appeal against the decision.
“When I heard they were not going to give me Sutent I broke down in tears.
“I've been told that in appealing I need to open up my heart to them, but I want to know just what they want from me.
“I thought the information I had already given them about the pain I've gone through and what I have suffered was sufficient enough.”
Mr Rosser, who served in the Royal Navy for nine years, was diagnosed after he went to his doctor about what he believed was “a popped rib”.
But when he went for a scan a tumour was discovered in his kidney and it was found that the pains he was suffering were the result of the cancer spreading to his bones.
He was originally told that he may have just months to live, but after having the kidney and corresponding adrenal gland removed he was told that he could live a few years longer.
Mr Rosser tried the drug Interferon but he suffered many side- effects and lost weight.
He said: “When I think how all my life I have always kept myself fit, running marathons for charity and have worked for 40 years and paid my national insurance, I would have thought I would be able to get the drugs I need now.
“I want some quality of life and longer to spend with my beautiful little girl and my wife.”
As well as one-year-old Emma, Mr Rosser has a 26-year-old daughter, Carly, and is a stepfather to his wife Jenny's two teenage sons, Sam and Daniel.
Mr Rosser's family have written letters to be included in his appeal, which is being put together with the help of Kate Spall, who set up the Pamela Northcott Fund in her mother's name after winning a battle to obtain kidney cancer drugs to prolong her life.
Kingswood MP Roger Berry has also written to the PCT on Mr Rosser's behalf.
A spokeswoman for South Gloucestershire PCT said: “A number of drugs are not routinely funded by the NHS. However, the PCT has a process in place to offer exceptional funding for treatments depending on the individual's circumstances.
“There is also an appeal process to challenge any decision made by the PCT if the patient feels that due process was not followed, or there is further information that could demonstrate an exceptional need for treatment above others in a similar situation.”
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