The drug could’ve given Swansea mum Rachel Davies an extra six months
A woman who was denied a life-extending cancer drug has announced her own death in a heartbreaking statement urging others to ‘live your life and live it well’.
Rachel Davies was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer which had spread to her bones, back, neck and pelvis.
The 40-year-old had prepared a post to be posthumously shared on social media and it went live on Thursday morning, confirming she is ‘no longer here’.
Davies had been a campaigner for the drug Enhertu which can give patients with a specific type of incurable breast cancer an average of an extra six months to live. It is not currently available on the NHS
The mum from Swansea had previously told BBC Wales News she thought there would be a high chance of it working for her.
“I just want the chance, the chance to be able to live,” she said when receiving her final chemotherapy treatment through the NHS. “That’s why I’m doing this, for my son and my family, not just for me.”
Davies’ oncologist from Swansea Bay health board had applied for specialist funding for the drug but it was refused.
At the time, it said it ‘carefully considers all requests for the funding of treatments that fall outside normal treatment protocols’ and takes NICE (the health assessment body) recommendations into account.
NICE decided against recommending the drug in July, citing it as not cost-effective and instead called on pharmaceutical companies to offer a fairer price.
Announcing her death on Facebook, Davies wrote: “If you’re reading this, then it means I’m no longer here, I can’t say to a better place as that is impossible!
