Saved by the kindness of strangers: Oncology nurse, 43, diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer is in REMISSION after being forced to crowdfund £100,000 for a drug not available on the NHS
- Laura Harris was told a cancer drug she needed wasn’t available on the NHS
- The mother-of-two, from Devon, was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer
- She set up a fundraising page aimed at raising £21,000 for Bevacizumab
- Thousands of strangers have now donated a total of nearly £100,000
- Mrs Harris has now taken three cycles of Bevacizumab – and is in remission
An oncology nurse forced to crowdfund for a cancer drug not available on the NHS has revealed she is now in remission.
Laura Harris, 43, sparked dismay across Britain when she was told a medicine she needed wasn’t funded by the NHS.
The mother-of-two, of Barnstaple, Devon, was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer last January and given just three months to live.
She created a fundraising page aimed at raising £21,000 for the life-extending drug Bevacizumab, which is not provided by the NHS on cost grounds.
Thousands of strangers from across the world have now donated a total of nearly £100,000 – enough for almost five blocks of the treatment.
Mrs Harris has now taken three cycles of Bevacizumab alongside a chemotherapy drug and said her latest scan delivered her results she could only dream of.
Laura Harris, 43, sparked outrage across Britain when she was told a medicine she needed wasn’t available from her own employer (pictured in March, when she started treatment with Bevacizumab)
The mother-of-two was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer and given just three months to live (pictured in May 2017, the effect of chemotherapy on her skin)
It showed no evidence of active disease – which she described as a type of remission. She broke the news to her followers and supporters on Facebook.
She wrote: ‘I have some great news to share for all of you who shared or donated to my GoFundMe so that I could buy chemotherapy for myself.
‘I had a scan while in hospital and there is No Evidence of Active Disease in me anywhere.
‘I’m staying on this life-extending treatment as long as possible. Thank you for saving my life.’
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Mrs Harris, who was born in Maryland, US, said the results were more than she could ever have hoped for.
She added: ‘My cancer deposits have all shrunk down and been rendered inactive by my current treatment regime which I raised money for.
‘This means none of my cancer is active or growing right now.
‘My oncologist said about my recent CT scan results that “my lungs look as if they’ve never had cancer in them”.
She set up a fundraising page aimed at raising £21,000 for the drug Bevacizumab that could extend her life but was not provided by the NHS on cost grounds. Thousands of strangers from across the world have now donated a total of nearly £100,000
Ms Harris has now taken three cycles of Bevacizumab alongside a chemotherapy drug and said her latest scan delivered her results she could only dream of (pictured with husband Paul)
Mrs Harris, who was born in Maryland, US, said the results were more than she could ever have hoped for (pictured receiving treatment in hospital)
WHAT IS BEVACIZUMAB?
Bevacizumab, which costs roughly £42,000 for a year’s supply, targets a cancer cell protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
The drug blocks this protein and stops the cancer from growing blood vessels, so it is starved and can’t grow.
Patients usually have Bevacizumab (Avastin) every two to three weeks and treatment continues for as long as it controls your cancer.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) doesn’t recommend the use of the drug on the NHS in England and Wales.
Avastin, made by pharmaceutical firm Roche, was previously available on the Cancer Drugs Fund before it was cut in 2015.
‘My family and I are understandably over the moon with these results. It shows the world that stage 4 cancer doesn’t have to be an automatic death sentence.’
Mrs Harris, mother to Molly, 14, and Noah, 16, and step-mother to Zach, eight, has been battling stage four bowel cancer since last year and was given just three months to live.
But she astounded colleagues by returning to her work caring for fellow cancer patients at North District Hospital later that year.
Mrs Harris came to the UK 20 years ago from the US, before qualifying as an oncology nurse in 2006.
She was denied the drug from her employers after the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said in 2010 Bevacizumab would not be funded by the NHS because the benefits ‘did not justify the costs’.
Trials have shown that Bevacizumab, also known by its brand name Avastin, can stop the progression of the cancer for an average of three months.
Mrs Harris, mother to Molly, 14, and Noah, 16, and step-mother to Zach, eight, has been battling stage four bowel cancer since last year and was given just three months to live (pictured with her husband Paul)
Mrs Harris came to the UK 20 years ago from the US, before qualifying as an oncology nurse in 2006 (pictured with her husband Paul)
In some bowel cancer cases, the drug has prolonged life expectancy by as much as three years.
Bevacizumab targets a cancer cell protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
The drug blocks this protein and stops the cancer from growing blood vessels, so it is starved and can’t grow.
Patients usually have Bevacizumab (Avastin) every two to three weeks and treatment continues for as long as it controls your cancer.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) doesn’t recommend the use of the drug on the NHS in England and Wales.
Avastin, made by pharmaceutical firm Roche, was previously available on the Cancer Drugs Fund before it was cut in 2015.
Each block of the treatment costs £21,000 and Mrs Harris initially hoped to raise enough for two. But after her story was publicised the donations came flooding in.
Mrs Harris, who has now completed three cycles of the treatment, said she was keeping the GoFundMe page open to fund as many of them as possible.
Each block of the treatment costs £21,000 and Mrs Harris initially hoped to raise enough for two. But after her story was publicised the donations came flooding in
Mrs Harris, from Devon, said: ‘The response we have had from my community and the world has truly been overwhelming’
She said: ‘Of course the success of the treatment means I will continue on it as long as it continues to work.
‘Thus we have left our fundraising page open for any who would want to donate towards my future treatment.
‘These results are far beyond any we could have imagined. We were absolutely blown away.
‘Due to the side effects of the chemo I was in hospital fighting an infection at the time they gave me the results.
‘I was actually expecting bad news as I was feeling so unwell. It certainly perked me up to get such amazing results.’
Mrs Harris continued: ‘The response we have had from my community and the world has truly been overwhelming.
‘Never in a million years did we think we would get the support we have been given and continue to receive.
‘My greatest wish, above all my bucket list items, is to reach the masses with my message. You are never too young, be vigilant over your own health and stage 4 cancer doesn’t have to be a death sentence.
‘I will keep using my time and energy and access to the press to push forward these messages.’
Her husband Paul, who moved their wedding forward after his wife’s diagnosis, said: ‘I’m breathing a huge sigh of relief.
‘I feel safe in the knowledge that Laura is getting the best care possible and I am looking forward to all the more memories we are going to make together with this additional time.
‘We owe these great results not only to the oncology team leading my care but to each and every person who has donated or is going to donate to our fund.
‘Without you we would be in a very different position.’
Anyone wanting to donate to her fundraising page can do so here.
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