NHS Eligibility Criteria Deny Secondary Breast Cancer Patient Access to Promising Drug, Forcing £200,000 Private Fundraising Campaign
Key Insights
Sarah Barchetti, a 50-year-old mother from Middleton, has been living with breast cancer (search) for 11 years and secondary breast cancer (search) for seven years, far exceeding the typical two-to-three-year prognosis.
After exhausting all NHS treatment options, including eight rounds of chemotherapy, doctors have identified a drug on the market with promising results for her cancer type, but she does not meet NHS eligibility criteria.
Barchetti and her husband have launched a private fundraising campaign to raise £200,000 for the treatment, with £40,000 raised within the first four days.
A 50-year-old mother from Alkrington, Middleton, is facing what she describes as a "treatment lottery" after being denied access to a potentially life-extending drug through the NHS, despite having exhausted all other available treatment options over an 11-year cancer journey.
Sarah Barchetti was first diagnosed with breast cancer (search) in June 2015, when her daughter was just three years old. Following a swift referral onto the cancer pathway at The Christie (search), she underwent what she described as "horrific" chemotherapy beginning in August 2015, followed by radiotherapy. By January 2016, she was declared clear of cancer.
"I knew straight away, I could tell by their faces," Barchetti said of her initial GP visit. "They knew before they'd even started testing."
Secondary Diagnosis and Extended Survival
In early 2019, after a period of normalcy during which she returned to work and family life, Barchetti began feeling unwell again. Scans confirmed that she had developed incurable secondary breast cancer (search), with the disease having spread to other parts of her body.
"In one way I'm very, very lucky to have lived with secondary cancer for seven years," she said. "When you get diagnosed with secondary breast cancer (search) they say two to three years, so I've outdone what they've said. But on the other hand, you're not lucky because it's not long enough."
Over the course of her 11-year fight, Barchetti has undergone eight rounds of chemotherapy, numerous surgeries and biopsies, radiotherapy, and various other courses of drugs. Throughout this period, her daughter — now 14 — has remained her central motivation.
"My daughter has been my strength. Every single day, when I've not felt like I can do it any more, I've done it for her, and I'll always continue to do everything for her. She needs me," Barchetti said.
Treatment Options Exhausted
Doctors have now informed Barchetti that chemotherapy is no longer working and that all other treatment options available on the NHS have been exhausted. However, a drug currently on the market has shown promising results for patients with the same type of cancer. According to Barchetti, the treatment could potentially buy her additional months and stabilise her condition to the point where she could re-enter the clinical trial list for emerging therapies.
Despite this, Barchetti does not meet the NHS eligibility criteria for the drug.
"I truly believe that we shouldn't be sat in this country fighting for drugs that are available," she said. "For whatever reason, they won't give them to me. I just think it's wrong on every level. It's like your life's almost not worth it, because it's money, that's what it's come down to."
Community Response and Fundraising
Barchetti and her husband Martin, a firefighter in Heywood, have launched a fundraising campaign to raise the £200,000 required to access the treatment privately. The decision to go public with her diagnosis was not taken lightly by the normally private family.
"It's mainly to try live as normal life as possible, but also to protect my daughter because she was so young and she's lived with it for such a long time. I didn't want to almost steal her childhood away from her," Barchetti explained.
The response has been overwhelming. Within four days of the fundraiser's launch, £40,000 had been raised through contributions from old school friends, community members, and even strangers.
"But [the response to the fundraiser] has been fantastic," Barchetti said. "It just restores your faith in people. You realise how good a lot of people are."
Looking ahead, Barchetti remains focused on the possibility of reclaiming her life beyond cancer. "It is a dream, but all I really want to do is get better, go back to work, have the usual struggles," she said. "I just want to be Sarah. I don't want to be Sarah with breast cancer (search). I just want to be me."