My name is Andy and I was diagnosed with an incurable non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in April 2015. There are over sixty different types of lymphoma, mine is one of the common ones known as follicular lymphoma, so called because of the shape of the cancer cells as they grow.

I've just started a drug trial at the Christie Hospital in Manchester which is my fifth major treatment in ten years. I've had chemotherapy twice, a stem cell transplant and a drug treatment called R squared. I'm now being given a new drug called Epcoritamab, which is one of the new immunotherapy drugs known as Bispecifics. These revolutionary new treatments, Bispecifics and CAR-T, are starting to be used here, but we are well behind their use in the USA and EU. Neither is available for follicular lymphoma in the UK and the only way to receive one of these game changing new treatments is via a drug trial. That means finding a trial and being accepted, and being selected to receive the new drug rather than the standard treatment it is being tested against. 

These game changing immunotherapies should be available on the NHS as standard treatments to exactly the same extent they are used in the USA and EU. This isn't about needing more hospitals or more Doctors, this is basically just about drug funding. Patients in the UK who have paid taxes for the NHS all their lives are being denied life saving treatments. Government wastes billions, these drugs can easily be afforded by the world's sixth largest economy, this is simply about Government and NHS inefficiency, bureaucracy and funding.

The Menu above has links to my story and my Campaign for the drug treatments NHS follicular lymphoma patients deserve.

The Blog also has all the latest updates, either scroll down or via the Menu.

The first photo is two years after my diagnosis, the second one is two years later during my stem cell transplant. Despite everything I'm pleased to say I can still make Jo laugh, though she finds it all desperately difficult of course.

Supporting the campaign is really easy. Please just enter your email address below. It's a simple petition, full details are on the Campaign page. You can unsubscribe at any time but my email updates are not very frequent so don't be concerned. Updates are mainly via the Blog and Instagram.

If you use Instagram, please follow me @andybr888  - cancer can be a very lonely place so a follow really helps. 

This R2D2 lookalike is the ultimate selfie. This is how frozen stem cells arrive back to be transplanted. They enable recovery from the six days of pre-transplant chemotherapy. Your life is literally in that container.