Woman facing life or death’ move to access cancer drug

A London grandmother who has battled breast cancer for more than a decade is facing the prospect of having to uproot her life and move 300 miles to Scotland to access a pioneering drug on the NHS.

- REBECCA WHITTAKER

Beverley Angell, 68, from Fulham, explained that an “unfair postcode lottery” has meant the drug, which costs £8,000 per session privately, is only available on the NHS in Scotland. “I don’t really want to leave my family, but it is a matter of life and death. I don’t have a choice,” she told The Independent.

The interior designer, who has stage 4 breast cancer, said the drug Enhurtu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) helps to treat HER2low, which represents at least 55 per cent of breast cancers including the kind she has. But moving is a “difficult dilemma” for Beverley, who doesn’t want to leave her family behind.

“I can’t bear it, I’ve got family here, I’ve got grandchildren, I don’t want to leave them,” she said. “I don’t have a choice, you either sink or swim. You just have to try your best or give up.”

She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012 and a lump was removed from her left breast, after which she was told her cancer was low-risk. It returned in 2014, and she had a mastectomy and chemotherapy. For years she didn’t suffer any symptoms until more lumps were discovered during a routine check-up at Charing Cross Hospital in December 2023. For a third time she had an operation to remove the lumps, and had chemotherapy.

Just as she thought she was recovering last year, she started to feel breathless while doing basic tasks. In March 2024, doctors found fluid in her lungs and diagnosed her with stage 4 breast cancer which had spread to her lungs, bowel and kidneys.