Claire's plea for petition signatures

Claire Molyneux, of Hunters Bar, was diagnosed with incurable stage two secondary breast cancer in the spine and hip in April 2015.

“I was devastated by my diagnosis,” revealed the mum-of-two.

“Although the cancer is being treated with hormone therapy, it’s horrible knowing your life is limited when you’re in your forties.”

And now Claire is urging people to sign a petition that would allow people like her access to a new drug, via the NHS, called Palbociclib - which has been recently identified as being able to increase the length of hormone treatment for breast cancer for up to 20 months. But the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has already made a provisional recommendation to the NHS that the drug - which costs £3,000 per month per patient - should not be freely available.

Claire said: “I’ve been on various medications since my diagnosis and am grateful to the NHS because, without it, I wouldn’t be alive today.

“The hormone therapy I’m on - which has few side effects and allows me to live quite normally - lasts on average for about 14 months. After that time, your body builds up a resistance to it and it’s then time to turn to chemotherapy, which is horrible, and would basically be for the rest of my life.

“This new drug could give me up to two more years of life, as it is at the moment, with my family. I’m already 12 months into my hormone therapy so time is running out. I’m hopeful the petition will help put pressure on NICE to reconsider.”

Visit www.change.org and search ‘secondary breast cancer’ to sign the petition to make Palbociclib available on the NHS.