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CANCER WONDE R DRUG SAVED MY LIFE ; EXCLUSIVE Woman Says New Pills Helped Her Beat THREE Tumours

Posted on: Saturday, 11 December 2004, 09:00 CST

A GREAT-grandmother has hailed a new cancer-beating wonder drug - saying it saved her life.

Edna Gaines was prescribed Arimidex, on trial in North Wales hospitals, after tumours were discovered in her kidney, breast and bladder three years ago.

The 76-year-old mother-of-two said the drug shrank the breast tumour and stopped the cancer spreading.

Edna from Penrhynside, near Llandudno, is now clear and is convinced it is a ray of hope for women across Britain.

But the marvel breast cancer cure will not be generally available across the UK for another three years.

Thousands of women now face an agonising wait for Arimidex - hailed as

the biggest breakthrough for 30 years. In Wales the drug, which costs pounds 1, 000 a year for each patient, has already been prescribed to women at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor and Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan.

Last night, Edna said she had been given a new lease of life.

She said: "It has saved my life. It shrank the big tumour I had in my breast before I opted for a mastectomy. It stops cancer spreading to other places. I think it is a good thing. "

Doctors have since found no other traces of cancer.

Edna's next hospital check will be in March and she has to keep taking Arimidex for five years.

Despite having to have both a kidney and breast removed, she is now "fighting fit".

Her daughter, Linda Groom, 55, chairwoman of Conwy council, said: "We had heard about the wonder drug in America and my brother and I were going to pay for it but we were just given it by Glan Clwyd.

"We're very, very lucky and thrilled to bits. It was a very bleak picture at the time. "

But then came another blow, when doctors found another tumour on Edna's bladder which she overcame. Doctors have found Arimidexdramatically reduces the chances of cancer spreading and cuts the risk of severe side-effects.

But a decision on approving the drug for use elsewhere in Wales and the rest of the UK is not due until March 2002.

In 2000, before she was struck down with cancer, Edna used to accompany her daughter, then the mayor, on all her engagements as mayoress.

Now she is recovered the 76-year-old has started accompanying her daughter on her civic duties again.

A Welsh Assembly spokeswoman said: "We await guidance on this drug with interest.

"It is already available in the NHS in parts of Wales, but it is for local health boards to decide how funding for cancer patients is spent. "

STUNNING trial results for Armidex or Anastrozole were unveiled on Wednesday by its makers, Astra Zeneca.

Doctors now want it to become the first-line therapy for early breast cancer in post-menopausal women. But NHS patients will have to wait - unless they go private.

Specialists from Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor and Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan were yesterday attending a symposium on the results in Texas.

Source: Daily Post; Liverpool

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