Living with cancer is like riding on a roller coaster. One minute all seems to be fine, and then it can sneak up on you again when you are least expecting it.

This means that I am acutely alert to any new unexpected aches and pains. I have been through one of these worrying episodes over the past couple of months, as I have developed pains in my forearm.

My first thoughts were that my cancer had spread. However, as a result of a bone scan, I was relieved to be told that nothing untoward was seen.

Anyway, that’s enough of me, as I need to bring you up to date with reference to our ongoing campaign for more effective drugs.

The Government’s drug licensing body NICE has now rejected all our new drugs apart from one, Sutent, which was finally won after a huge unnecessary cost of life, due to unfathomable delays and our dreadful NHS Postcode Lottery.

NICE recently issued draft guidance to reject our latest drug Everolimus, for second-line treatment of kidney cancer, and now we await the outcome of their appeal process, which is not due until June.

While NICE continues to take its time, many have been left with no effective treatment once again.

Patients will have no alternative but to apply directly to their own PCT for funding, which is in itself another time-consuming paper-intensive process, which often results in a negative outcome in any case.

The last thing a seriously ill cancer patient wants to do is to have to fight bureaucracy.

Cancer patients appear to be an easy target for NHS cost-cutting, despite the fact that most of us have paid a lifetime of contributions.

We now feel even more frightened and vulnerable as it seems that we are little more than an expensive nuisance to some highly paid NHS administrators.

It was reported recently that Sophia Christie, chief executive of Birmingham NHS, upset patients by dismissing cancer drugs that provide vital pain relief to thousands, as “death deferring,” and she suggested money would be better used elsewhere. She was addressing the NICE Annual Conference at the time, so who knows what influence she may have had on the people we rely on for new drugs?

This was also particularly insensitive as we look upon each new cancer drug as a bringer of hope for the extra time we are given. If one has hope taken away then what are we left with? One could argue that many other interventional medical procedures could be considered as “death deferring”.

Our online petition to the Prime Minister asks for a full and urgent review to be made of the NICE process for appraising all newly licensed and approved cancer drugs. We already have more than 1,500 signatures and are approaching the top of the list in the ‘Health’ category.