Leukaemia sufferer Ann Tittley would not accept what the doctors told her when they said she could not have a new 'miracle' drug.

Her decision to take a stand drew attention to the scandal of drug rationing and helped others like her. Health Correspondent Barry Nelson reports.

THE case of Ann Tittley made national headlines in June last year when she wrote to Prime Minister Tony Blair pleading for her life.

The 55-year-old, from Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, spoke out after being told that the only way she could get a new leukaemia drug on the NHS was to move to Scotland.

Her brave decision to go public put pressure on the health establishment and almost certainly helped other NHS patients to get the drug Glivec sooner.

This week's decision to allow all UK specialists to prescribe Glivec would have been welcomed by Ann - but sadly, she died on July 14 after developing an unrelated cancer.

In June last year, Ann was a patient at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where the first major European trial of Glivec was organised.

Despite the expertise of RVI haematolologists, her consultant was not allowed to prescribe a licensed drug which is effective in 80 per cent of cases.

This was because Glivec had not yet been approved by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Nice) for use in English hospitals, although it was available in Scotland.

At the time she told The Northern Echo: "It just seems ridiculous that this new drug is there waiting to be used, but I can't have it."

In her letter to Mr Blair she asked: "Do I have to uproot my family and move to Scotland to stand a chance of life?"

A month after her June protest, the consultant at her hospital, Bishop Auckland General, got the go-ahead to prescribe Glivec after a meeting of the trust's drug and therapeutic committee.

In August last year the situation improved after Nice issued an interim ruling on Glivec which allowed consultants in England to prescribe it - but only if another anti-leukaemia drug, Interferon, failed.

At the time, Ann said: "Everyone now has the chance to try this new drug. I am glad they have seen sense."

Her husband, Ken, 56, said his wife had responded well to Glivec. "When she had her last biopsy they found that she was 97 per cent clear of leukaemia," he said.

But in April, Ann was diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer.

"They told us that her cancers were not connected.

"Unfortunately, she was diagnosed too late for any treatment," he said.

The designer, who had been married to Ann for 34 years, said the church was packed with mourners for his wife's funeral in Durham.

Their 18-year-old son, Simon, is about to take up a place at Northumbria University.

"We were really looking forward to her being in long-term remission," said Ken.

In July last year, Ann told The Northern Echo: "I want to thank you for the coverage and support you gave me with my fight for the new drug Glivec. It was your brilliant article that started the ball rolling."