Stephen Dallison, of Iffley Road, Oxford, started using Sunitinib this week and hopes his condition will improve within the next three months.

The 33-year-old physicist, who works at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, near Didcot, was given 12 months to live after being diagnosed with renal cancer last year.

But it took him three months to win the right to get the drug he needed.

Commenting on Martyn Sumner's failed appeal, he said: "It's terrible. You really don't need that kind of stress and work on top of the obvious trauma of being seriously ill.

"I would advise the Sumners to keep fighting if they can. We're about to start a support group in the area because it's getting ridiculous now.

"I will offer my support to Martyn Sumner every step of the way."

Mr Dallison's case was discussed four times by members of two PCT committees before he won permission to have Sunitinib last December, following expert independent advice.

He did not use it straight away as he had started a powerful chemotherapy called Interleukin-2.

He said: "I went through a very bad patch with Interleukin-2. I lost weight and I didn't respond to it.

"Sunitinib is a much less stressful treatment and I'll have a scan to see my progress in 12 weeks' time."