Golfers back cancer patient

6:30pm Tuesday 2nd September 2008

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A charity golf match is being staged to raise funds for an Abingdon father who is one of the victims of Oxfordshire's cancer postcode lottery.

Father-of-three Andy Crabb, 49, has renal cancer and is one of 20 patients in the county who has been denied the life-extending drug Sunitinib.

Mr Crabb, a builder, and his wife Dianne, 57, have been forced to pay £3,300 every six weeks for the treatment.

Mr Crabb has responded well to the treatment but fears he will have to sell his house in Crosslands Drive to keep paying for the drug.

The couple have already cashed in their pensions and friends have now organised a charity golf match at Hinksey Heights golf course, near Oxford, in a bid to raise more funds.

The match will be played on Friday, September 19, and organiser Paul Evans is hoping to raise a significant amount towards Mr Crabb's medical bills.

He is also asking friends of Mr Crabb's family to agree to make regular payments so that he does not have to worry about finding thousands of pounds every six weeks.

Mr Evans said: "Andy's latest appeal has just been turned down, and to make matters worse the financial plug has been pulled on Sunitinib nationwide, so nobody gets it for free now.

"This basically means that Andy's financial situation is not going to improve.

"We would like to open a bank account where people can deposit funds via standing order.

"For example, if we could get 100 people donating £20 per month, this would be enough to purchase Sunitinib on Andy's behalf. This is only an example, as any sum of money would be greatly appreciated."

Mr Crabb said: "I really appreciate everyone's help and I will try to go along to the golf course on the day, although I'm not into golf - football and fishing are my two favourites.

"I'm feeling much better than I did, so the treatment is clearly working."

In July, hundreds of people turned up at Abingdon United's Northcourt Road ground for a fundraising event and raised more than £800.

Last week, victims of the postcode lottery in Oxfordshire travelled to the London headquarters of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to lobby for Sunitinib to be made freely available on the NHS.

Draft guidance issued by Nice last month says that four kidney cancer drugs should not be prescribed on the NHS because it is too expensive.

The first tee time for the Andy Crabb Open will be at 11.48am and teams of four will pay £140 to compete in the 18-hole competition, followed by a barbecue at the course.

For more details of the golf day or to enter, call Mr Evans on 01235 203108 or email him at evans42@ntlworld.com