Cancer patient Andy Crabb is hoping his third appeal for the life-extending drug Sunitinib will be successful today.

Mr Crabb, 50, is among kidney cancer sufferers in Oxfordshire who have been denied funding for the drug by Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust because it is too expensive.

The father-of-three has been forced to pay for the treatment, which costs £3,300 every six weeks, and people in the community have rallied round to help fund the treatment.

An appeal hearing is taking place today at Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust.

Mr Crabb, a self-employed builder, was receiving bone- enhancement treatment yesterday at the Churchill Hospital and was unavailable for comment.

His wife Diane, 57, said: “This is our third appeal and we are hoping we will be successful this time — without the drug Andy would not be here.

“We will not find out if we are successful until Tuesday and if we are not, we are prepared to work with campaigner Kate Spall to take Andy’s case to court.

“Andy has just finished a course of radiotherapy for a tumour on his left shoulder and during that time he was not able to take Sunitinib, so he has gone downhill.

“The drug makes a big difference and should be offered to everybody.

“We are really hoping that the appeal is successful because just dealing with the cancer is hard enough.

“All the people who have helped are marvellous and we can’t thank them enough. The support has been overwhelming. Andy is a very popular bloke and never complains.”

Mrs Crabb said her husband had not been forced to pay for NHS treatment after deciding to fund Sunitinib himself.

Mr Crabb is one of 25 patients denied the drug by the PCT.