Delight as life-saving therapy heads for UK

The parents of young Alex Barnes say they are "delighted" after learning the pioneering cancer treatment which saved their son's life may become available in the UK.

Rosalie and Paul Barnes were in Westminster yesterday to lobby Ann Keen, the health minister responsible for cancer services, to fund proton therapy, an advanced cancer treatment which could save the lives of 200 children a year in the UK.

Rosalie Barnes had to take five-year-old Alex to America to have the treatment for a brain tumour after raising £40,000 to do so because it was not available on the NHS.

Yesterday, after a 30-minute meeting at the Department of Health headquarters, Rosalie said she was "delighted" with the response.

She said: "It went even better than I hoped for. I told her all about Alex and what happened to us and why we need proton therapy in the UK and she said 'I can't disagree'."

The department yesterday confirmed that it was committed to developing proton treatment in Britain.

Health experts have said the treatment – which is used in other countries including France and Poland – has been sufficiently proven to be effective.

Politicians say it is now a matter of finding the money to develop proton therapy centres in the UK, which, it is estimated, would cost £100 million each.

The family were supported by Harborough MP Edward Garnier and Professor Adrian Crellin, a Government advisor on cancer services, at the meeting.

Speaking to the Mercury afterwards Rosalie, 44, said: "Everyone around the table was in agreement that we need to have this technology here."

The advanced cancer treatment involves the insertion of tiny metal balls into a patient's head to direct lasers to cancerous tissue.

It minimises the risk of brain damage in child patients.

Since having proton therapy, Alex has made a full recovery and is back at Stoneygate School in Great Glen.

The family said they want to repay the generosity shown to them by fighting to ensure that other sufferers can access the life-saving treatment closer to home.

Rosalie said: "The people of the East Midlands, along with the doctors in America, have saved Alex's life. This is our way of trying to give back a little bit of the joy and the hope that they have given us."

The couple will today be visited by Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb at their home in Fleckney, and they plan to continue their campaign by lobbying shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley.

Conservative MP Edward Garnier believes the issue of funding the centres will have cross-party support.

He said: "I think the minister is wholly persuaded of the need for a proton therapy centre in Britain and it certainly seems that the medical evidence is pointing in that direction."

A spokesman for the Department of Health said last night: "An advisory group has been formed to advise the department and establish a framework for the development of proton therapy services in England."

The Government is expected to announce in June how, when and where proton therapy centres can be set up in the UK.