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Bowel cancer jabs that saved my sight
How drug is allowing Margaret to see again
EXCLUSIVE
BY Vicki Robinson
Health Reporter
A WOMAN'S eyesight has been saved – thanks to the unlikely side-effects of a cancer drug.
Margaret Walker was all but blind in her left eye and NHS doctors said there was little they could do to restore her vision.
However, the 72-year-old gran-of-six can see clearly once again after having injections of the bowel disease treatment Avastin.
The medicine is currently only prescribed on the NHS in the UK for treatment of advanced colon cancer.
But specialists in the US noticed that the drug could also help patients with the potentially blinding condition wet macular degeneration.
First
And Margaret, from Rothwell, Leeds, has become the first person in Yorkshire to have the drug injected directly into her eye.
Two months on, her eyesight is already beginning to return and experts are hopeful after a few more treatments it could be better than ever.
Margaret, a retired waitress, said: "I wasn't worried about taking the risk – I really didn't have anything to lose.
"My granddaughter brought me back a little wooden elephant from holiday and before the treatment it was just a blob-like shape. Now I can see its outline. It's like my yardstick to see how my sight is improving – and every time I look at it I smile."
Although prescribed for bowel cancer, Avastin is not yet licensed for other uses in the UK, meaning patients who want it must pay privately.
By the time her treatment is complete, Margaret will have spent around 6,000 on the drug - which is administered at the Yorkshire Eye Hospital in Apperley Bridge.
Margaret said: "I've used my savings to pay for the treatment. But you just cannot put a price on your sight.
"People have said to me that they wouldn't pay that amount for it. But what good is money if you can't enjoy it? "
Hospital
The Yorkshire Eye Hospital is the first in Yorkshire and among only a handful in the country to be allowed by the Government's Medical Advisory Committee to use Avastin for wet macular degeneration – one of the biggest causes of blindness in the UK.
The macula is a small area at the very centre of the retina and is responsible for what we see straight in front of us, allowing us to see fine detail for activities such as reading and writing, as well as see colour.
Sometimes the delicate cells of the macula become damaged and stop working. There are many different conditions which can cause this. If it occurs later in life, it is called "age-related macular degeneration", also often known as AMD.
Consultant ophthalmologist Shafiq Rehman, who carried out the treatment on Margaret, said: "Many people who suffer from wet macular degeneration may already have lost the sight of one eye and are either not suitable for other treatments or failing to respond to them.
"Avastin is a welcome addition to the treatment options we can offer these patients ."
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence, which offers guidelines on which drugs the NHS should provide and fund, is currently evaluating treatments for wet macular degeneration. However, Avastin is not among the drugs it is looking at.
vicki.robinson@ypn.co.uk
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Friday 25 May 2012
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