The Velcade Three
Shoppers support 'Velcade Three'
Shoppers at a supermarket showed their support for three cancer patients by giving cash to help fund a legal bid to overturn a decision which denies them access to a life-extending drug.
Donations given during a day of fundraising at Morrisons in Keighley yesterday included one of £1,000 from a couple who wish to remain anonymous.
The event was organised by Jacky Pickles, 44, of Keighley, Janice Wrigglesworth, 59, of Cowling, and Marie Morton, 57, of Keighley, who have been dubbed The Velcade Three.
They have multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow, and have been fighting to gain access to a drug called Velcade which can extend and improve the lives of sufferers.
It is available to patients in Scotland and other EU countries. But last week they were devastated when the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) ruled it should not be made available on the NHS in England as it is not deemed cost-effective.
They have vowed to continue their battle in the courts and have launched a fundraising appeal.
Mrs Pickles, a Bradford midwife who has benefited from Velcade after taking part in a clinical trial, said of the £1,000 donation: "I am elated, I can't believe it from strangers.
"This money is going to help us go to the Court of Human Rights and fight for Velcade, not just for us, but for all myeloma sufferers within the UK. We want to ban postcode lottery for Velcade and hopefully for any other drug."
The women were supported yesterday by family and friends, who rattled tins. Mrs Pickles' son Sean, a teacher at Rhodesway School in Bradford, was one of those helping to raise money.
"Mum has been ill for the last five years with this disease," he said.
"She goes through plateau stages where it is much like remission, to stages where she is quite ill. At the moment Velcade has turned her life around. In February this year there was a time when we were very close to losing her. We didn't know that we would have her back but at the moment this drug has provided her with quality of life.
"It is really nice to see her being able to do something like this, especially when you have seen the other side of it where she can't get off the sofa and she is very ill."
Mr Pickles said he felt not just anger but disbelief at the decision to refuse patients access to Velcade on the NHS.
"NICE have said that it is clinically effective but have decided that it is not cost effective," he said.
"It is not whether this drug works or not - it does work - it is whether or not we can afford this drug as a country and what is the price that you put on life."
Copyright © The Velcade Three, 2010.