Life-saving machine lay unused as patient died

Shortcomings in the provision of radiotherapy meant breast cancer sufferer Janet McLeod was deprived of potentially life-saving treatment.

Mrs McLeod, 63, was one of hundreds of cancer patients who were told the hypothermic radiotherapy machine at Hammersmith Hospital in west London was to be taken out of service because it was too expensive to run.

She was forced to seek the same treatment in Rotterdam, Holland - at a cost of ?6,000. It worked at first but doctors then found the cancer had spread to her brain and it was too late to save her.

Shortly before she died in April this year, Mrs McLeod, from south London, said: "The treatment I had abroad was fantastic but it was not able to stop the spread of cancer to my brain."

Mrs McLeod, a former journalist, launched a highprofile campaign to get the machine running again, to ensure other cancer patients would not suffer the same fate. Her efforts paid off and hospital chiefs promised to restore the equipment, which shrinks tumours that cannot be treated with conventional radiotherapy.

Mrs McLeod's husband Ian, a retired brigadier, said today: "She died peacefully knowing that her efforts would help other people suffering from cancer."