A tragic cancer victim who was controversially refused life-saving treatment has died.
Nadejah Williams’ courageous fight for life was dealt a series of crushing blows after she was cruelly denied specialist care.
Last night her devastated mother, Michelle Campbell-Cairns, raged: “They killed my daughter.”
The Government’s decision to hand power on cancer care to the quango NHS England last April was blamed for the shocking way 23-year-old Nadejah was treated.
Nadejah, who appeared on Channel 4 reality show Shipwrecked in 2009, was finally given the go-ahead to have pioneering CyberKnife treatment for a rare form of colon cancer after three appeals.
The treatment – which is non-invasive and more direct than other forms of radiotherapy – was denied her for months. By the time it was finally approved it was too late – her tumours had grown too big.
Nadejah –
There are three CyberKnife machines in England – at the Royal Marsden, Mount Vernon and Barts, hospitals in London – and Nadejah could have been treated within days if the funding had been agreed.
In an exclusive interview with the Mirror her distraught mother, herself a cancer care nurse, sobbed: “They killed my daughter. They killed her. They have taken everything from me… my only child, my grandchildren and my future.
“If she had the CyberKnife treatment when her consultant originally asked she would be alive today.
“It’s as simple as that. The weeks and months she was kept waiting has cost her her life.”
Nadejah was refused the CyberKnife procedure because of new cancer care rules.
Eventually, after the intervention of the Mirror and Liberal Democrat MP Tessa Munt, NHS bosses reversed their decision. But it came too late.
Michelle said: “Nadejah was very angry and bitter. If she had had the CyberKnife treatment it would have been much cheaper than all the expensive chemotherapy treatment she had. It’s an extraordinary situation. They turned her down for this CyberKnife treatment which is far cheaper than chemotherapy. The system let her down.”
The decision to deny Nadejah treatment for so long makes a mockery of David Cameron’s pledge last year that ALL patients who needed innovative radiotherapy would get it after the changes came into place.
Nadejah was told in March that her chemotherapy was not working and the best chance of being cured was with something called stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy, also known as CyberKnife.
This uses precise beams of radiation to treat cancers that were once inoperable.
Michelle, 45, a nurse at University College Hospital London, took Nadejah back to her home in Stoke Newington, North London, to die.
And, despite her bitterness over her daughter’s treatment at the hands of NHS chiefs, she said: “I would like to thank the palliative care team – they were fantastic.”
Michelle cared for Nadejah night and day to make sure she was comfortable in her final hours.
“She was slipping in and out of consciousness at the end,” Michelle said. “On the Monday she was up in the kitchen making a slush puppy. She was even out of bed on the Thursday night but she died on the Saturday morning.
“She told me: ‘If I have to go – I have to go, Mum’ and told me to look after myself and made a list for me.
“She was so brave, so courageous, she hung on to life as long as she could. My heart feels like a truck has run over it.”
Michelle added: "I would like to pay tribute to others including UCLH consultant professor Daniel Hochhauser."
Last year, as NHS bosses wrangled over funding issues, Michelle seethed: “These people are signing her death certificate.”
And Nadejah, whose picture was seen in Body Shop stores up and down the country as part of the Teenage Cancer Trust campaign, said at the time: “How do these people sleep at night? I’m disgusted. I’m only 23 years old. These people making these decisions are so blasé – they don’t care.”
Tessa Munt, who spoke up for Nadejah in July last year when her plight was first highlighted, was furious last night.
She said: “This has happened all too often since NHS England took control of our healthcare.
“It is scandalous that a young girl – who had her whole life in front of her – is allowed to die, while the machine that could have saved her life lies idle in the next room just because faceless bureaucrats are trying to save a few pounds and wouldn’t let her doctor use it.”
Nadejah was first diagnosed back in October, 2011 when she had a place as an intern in New York. After the Mirror revealed details, Tory health minister Anna Soubry ordered NHS England to review the case, despite the Government having said they were handing it full responsibility for cancer care.
NHS England declined to comment last night, but last year a spokesperson said: “All cases are reviewed on the basis of the patient being able to benefit from the treatment.
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