Coronavirus: Cancer drug athlete Sarah Wright allowed to fly to US

Sarah and Adam Wright with baby Everleigh

A former Commonwealth Games athlete who could not access cancer treatment in the US because of Covid-19 restrictions has been given permission to travel.

Sarah Wright, 33, was in the British Shooting team when in 2018 she heard she was pregnant and had breast cancer.

After unsuccessful treatments, she was accepted on a San Francisco trial but the UK is currently on a US travel ban.

Her husband, Adam, said they were booking flights after receiving permission from London's US embassy.

He said the embassy had been working on a travel waiver for the past few days and on Thursday sent an email to confirm the couple had been approved to fly.

"They just said 'let us know when your flights are and we will smooth the process over in getting you in' effectively," he said.

Describing the development as "uplifting", he said if the drug, Leronlimab, was effective, it could mean extra months or extra years of life for his wife.

"It's hard to say really what it would give us, but it would at least give us some more hope for the future," he said.

Sarah Gray (maiden name) competing at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow

Mrs Wright had chemotherapy throughout her pregnancy and in 2019 gave birth to a health baby girl, Everleigh.

Six weeks later, Mrs Wright was told her surgery and treatment had been unsuccessful and the cancer had spread to her liver and lungs.

Over the following eight months, she exhausted all treatments that were available through the NHS, including a clinical trial at Maidstone hospital.

She was accepted on the US trial after a biopsy showed a high chance of it being effective.

CytoDyn, the company that manufactures the drug, said it had offered to pay the couple's travel expenses, adding: "We will do all we can for her."