Lung cancer diagnosis 'felt like a death sentence'

Nicky has been given a less than a 10% chance of surviving beyond three years

A woman with stage three lung cancer is trying to fund private treatment after being told by the NHS it can only offer palliative care.

Nicky, from Bournemouth, said it felt like "a death sentence" when she was diagnosed with the disease in February and told she had a less than a 10% chance of surviving beyond three years.

She said a treatment that could improve her chances was available privately, but was not funded by the NHS and would cost tens of thousands of pounds.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said it was trying "to fast-track access to promising treatments".

"It came as a huge shock, I've never smoked, I'm relatively young," Nicky said.

"I thought it could be something like tuberculosis or other serious things, not something where you're basically given a death sentence."

For her stage three cancer, Nicky said care on the NHS was limited to a palliative treatment focused on giving relief from pain – but privately she has been told she has another option.

She said: "There is a curative route and there are treatments available in combination with each other.

"That combination is not funded through the NHS, but it gives me a much better chance of survival beyond five years."

Nicky said private care could cost more than £80,000 and involve three treatments

The care she wants privately involves three treatments - a type of radiotherapy, chemotherapy and a targeted chemotherapy pill.

But she estimated the first round of that care would cost £80,000, which the community around her in Bournemouth is helping to raise.

Nicky and her friends plan to hold fundraising events in the weeks ahead, including a swimming challenge and dog walks.

She said the prospect of finding care privately was a "glimmer of hope".

"It was just so heavy getting that diagnosis of basically 'you are going to die, it's just a matter of time'," she said.

"But now it's 'no you can live and beyond five years', it's incredible that there is this combination of treatments that I can get."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "We continue to invest significantly in cancer research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NICE), including studies investigating new treatments for lung cancer.

"We work with our regulatory partners to fast-track access to promising treatments, and we are committed to delivering effective medicines to patients sooner while maintaining the highest safety standards."