Widow Jenny Wheeler has launched a campaign to win the right for dying cancer patients to be prescribed a life-extending drug.

Jim Wheeler, 57, from Kidlington, suffered kidney cancer that spread to other parts of his body. He died last month.

The father-of-two had asked Oxfordshire PCT to prescribe the £2,500-a-month drug Sunitinib - which is available in other areas - but was declined funding shortly before his death.

Now, his widow Jenny, of The Moors, is linking up with other families who have been affected in the same way, to campaign for a change in policy by the PCT.

To date, 15 patients in Oxfordshire have been refused the drug by the PCT. And while some primary care trusts do prescribe the drug, others do not, creating a postcode lottery.

Only one patient, Stephen Dallison, has had the decision reversed on appeal.

Mother-of-two Mrs Wheeler, 54, said: "I am really missing Jim and I feel so angry that he wasn't given the chance to have this drug, even on a trial basis.

"We were deprived of spending extra time with him and that is why I want to launch a campaign to get the PCT to change its policy on this.

"It is not just my family that has been affected. There are lots of other families suffering too, and more cases are being diagnosed.

"It seems so wrong that you can get the drug in one part of the country and not the other.

"We will meet other people to decide the best way to run our campaign."

Mrs Wheeler said she would be meeting other postcode lottery victims at a meeting at the Churchill Hospital early next month.

The group called Frog (Friends of Renal Oncology Group) meets once a month to discuss the best way to combat the PCT's stance.

Other high-profile cases included Mr Dallison and Martyn Sumner. Mr Sumner died in March, aged 52, from renal cancer.

He and his wife Jan were seeking a judicial review after the PCT declined funding for the drug on a three-month trial basis.

Mr Dallison, 33, of Iffley Road, Oxford, had been diagnosed with renal cancer last year. It took him three months to win his appeal.

He said: "I will do everything I can to help Jenny with the campaign.

"A legal route to force the PCT to change its policy may be the only answer.

"I have just had my scan results and my tumours have reduced in size quite dramatically."

Dr Ljuba Stirzaker, healthcare priorities consultant for Oxfordshire PCT, said: "The PCT has a responsibility to provide healthcare services for the whole of Oxfordshire.

"There continues to be demand for healthcare provision with many new treatments becoming available every year.

"The PCT has a stringent process for evaluating new treatments and has to make many difficult decisions about whether to spend resources on them.

"We are aware of the impact that this may have on individuals and their families."

  • Are you one of the patients denied funding by the PCT? Call the newsdesk on 01865 425500.