An RAF veteran who was told he had to pay for his own cancer treatment by the NHS has died.
Roy Bushen, 75, was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer in June this year and was told he had to pay £18,000 for treatment that could prolong his life.
His widow Sandra told Caerphilly Observer that her husband of 52 years was brave to the end but blamed the NHS for not offering treatment sooner.
She said: “I feel disgusted and really let down.”
Great-grandfather Mr Bushen was diagnosed with bowel cancer last year and it was during treatment that doctors discovered the terminal liver cancer.
Doctors told him that Selective Internal Radiotherapy Treatment (SIRT) could prolong his life but that it was not available on the NHS in Wales.
After applying for funding and being told he was not eligible, the couple decided to spend £18,000 on treatment. The decision took six weeks.
A further delay meant a total of 11 weeks without the SIRT and by the time Mr Bushen, who had two sons, two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, was due to start, he was told by doctors the cancer had spread to his abdomen and the treatment would not be worthwhile.
Mrs Bushen said: “Eleven weeks without anything – it’s absolutely disgusting. They left it too long.
“After we were told he was too far gone for SIRT Roy thought he probably couldn’t fight it – but he didn’t give up.”
Caerphilly Observer first reported on Mr Bushen’s case in October this year when he was faced with spending his life savings on the treatment.
At the time he said: “I feel totally let down. I feel they’ve got all that they can out of me and they’ve pushed me to the sidelines. I feel bitterness as there is so much money wasted in the NHS.”
A highly accomplished model maker, Mr Bushen, of Trecenydd, served in the RAF on Christmas Island in the 1950s while nuclear tests were being carried out and there have always been suspicions the cancer was linked.
The local community rallied around the family and helped to raise funds to pay for the SIRT and Mrs Bushen praised and thanked them for their efforts.
Around £3,000 had been raised from local events and donations. Money was even sent from Canada. As Mr Bushen did not start the treatment, their £18,000 has been refunded and the money raised will be split between Velindre Hospital, Tenovus, Macmillan Cancer Care and the palliative care unit at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr, where Mr Bushen passed away.
Mrs Bushen added: “Roy was wonderful and he was a great dad, grandfather and great-grandfather.
He was so nice to everybody and never did any harm to anybody. He was very, very brave.”
Lindsay Whittle, Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales East, who has known Roy for many years, said: “It was shocking and very sad to be told that Roy had passed away. My thoughts are with his wife, Sandra and the family.
“Roy had fought bravely against bowel and liver cancer and the community rallied around after Roy was forced to pay for treatment privately when the NHS in Wales wouldn’t pay for SIRT.
“During my chats with Roy he always emphasised that he wanted me to help others in the future and that we needed to learn lessons from his painful experience.
“He was a giant of a man and I will miss him. I am only so sorry that I could not have helped him more.”
Mr Whittle recently met Health Minister Mark Drakeford about Mr Bushen’s funding case.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Whilst we cannot comment on individual cases, we extend our condolences to Mrs Bushen at this sad time.
“We can confirm that a meeting was held between Lindsay Whittle and the Health Minister, where issues around access to treatments not routinely available in Wales were discussed along with the cost to the individual when they decide to fund such a treatment themselves.
“The meeting also discussed actions which the Welsh Government is taking to review the current system and to improve its operation.”
What a sad world we live in,when a brave man like this can be left too die early becouse of a few pounds.my thoughts go out too his family.
David Smith.