A dad-of-three with terminal cancer may be forced to sell his house to buy a life-prolonging treatment denied him by county health chiefs.

Andrew Crabb, 49, and his wife Dianne have already cashed in their pensions to pay for sunitinib tablets, which cost £3,300 every six weeks.

The grandfather of nine from Crosslands Drive, Abingdon, was a self-employed builder before being diagnosed with renal cancer last September.

Mr Crabb, who plays darts for the Cross Keys pub in Abingdon and fishes for the Beehive angling club, is one of 15 patients in the county denied sunitinib by Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust - despite it being offered by other PCTs around the country.

The keen football fan is currently on a 28-day free trial of the drug, after being taken off his previous treatment, temsirolimous, which caused a weakening of his bones so severe he shattered his upper arm getting out of bed.

Three weeks into his new course of sunitinib, Mr Crabb said: "I need it. Three weeks ago I was very weak. People who do not see me from one week to the next have really noticed it."

Mrs Crabb, 57, said her husband's upturn in health since taking the drug had been remarkable.

She said: "I noticed the difference straight away. I have a photo of him three weeks ago and he is just grey, now he has got his colour back and he is eating three or four meals a day. Last Saturday he walked for four and a half hours and was on his exercise bike for 45 minutes. You cannot say it is not working."

The tumour on Mr Crabb's kidney is the size of a hand and the cancer has spread to his hip, forcing it to be replaced.

Mrs Crabb said it was heartbreaking to see her husband denied sunitinib - and admitted she did not know how they would fund the treatment beyond this year.

She said: "Andy's friends have been brilliant with fundraising events and the cheques just poured in - we cannot thank them enough. But that money will only last us about for about six months of treatment. We have both had to cash in our pensions."

Mr Crabb said: "I do not know what will happen after that - we might have to sell the house."

Mrs Crabb said she wanted to make Oxfordshire PCT aware of the personal plight of families denied life-prolonging treatment.

She said: "I think it is absolutely disgusting. They do not think about the person or the families - it is just money to them. We are talking about people's lives.

"I do not understand how they can find money for other people to have a gastric bypass because they're fat or for drug abusers, but not for someone who has cancer."

The couple, who have been married for 29 years, intend to appeal.

Oxfordshire PCT said guidance on prescribing Sunitinib was not expected from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Nice) until January 2009.

Dr Ljuba Stirzaker, a consultant in healthcare priorities, said: "Based on this, sunitinib is not normally funded. Each case is considered on its own merits, in light of all available clinical information."