Funding Drug Treatment For Cancer And Degenerative Diseases

The Department of Health is in the final stages of a consultation which is expected to confirm that the bar on topping-up NHS care by paying for drugs not available on the NHS will be lifted in England.
     However, strict rules will remain meaning that patients will also have to pay for staff time and the scans and blood tests associated with extra care. This could run to tens of thousands of pounds depending on the treatment, and will be beyond the reach of many. In its last financial year, the Masonic Samaritan Fund (MSF) allocated grants totalling over £350,000 to support drug treatment for cancer and degenerative diseases for applicants who were unable to get this support via the NHS. Brian Kolimbarides was one such applicant. The photograph shows him receiving the drug Cetuximab – the drugs and his treatment were funded by the MSF.
     He wrote to the Fund, saying: “I cannot express enough my grateful thanks to the MSF for the funding they have provided for the life-giving drug Cetuximab, without which my future would have been on a much more limited timescale. I am, at this moment, living a normal life and I’m able to continue to enjoy my masonic duties.”
     If you, or someone you know, is currently unable to access drug treatment for cancer or degenerative diseases via the NHS, please contact the MSF to see if they can help.

Helping To Help Others

The job satisfaction that comes from enabling those in medical need to improve their circumstances, and thereby return to a normal way of life, is enormous. When this, in turn, leads to the grateful beneficiary being able to continue to help many others in need, the satisfaction is even greater.
     John Purdy, a retired HGV driver, has for many years been a volunteer driver for the ambulance car service. Faced with a six month wait for cataract surgery, John approached the MSF, who funded his treatment.
     With his ‘new eyesight’ he is able to carry on as a volunteer driver for the ambulance service which gets him “out of the house and out from under her feet!”
     If you would like further details of the support available from the Masonic Samaritan Fund, please contact them direct by telephone or email or visit their website. Support is available, but can only be provided if the Fund is made aware of the medical care and support that is needed.

CONTACT DETAILS Masonic Samaritan Fund 60 Great Queen Street, London WC2B 5AZ Tel: 020 7404 1550 Fax: 020 7404 1544 mail@msfund.org.uk www.msfund.org.uk