IT is hard enough to fight for your life without having to fight the NHS as well, but in his darkest hour one man feels the healthcare system was more his enemy than cancer.

In the time of his greatest need, Dave Sanders believes the NHS system he had paid into all his life let him down by initially refusing to provide the drug that he was told could extend his life.

He already had the fight of his life on his hands; the last thing he needed was another.

Fortunately, the 52-year-old has a large and supportive family and colleagues who have backed him to the hilt so he was always equipped for a fight – however unwelcome it was and no matter how large and powerful his adversary.

Mr Sanders, aged 52, of Whitbourne, between Worcester and Bromyard, was told he had cancer of the left kidney in September last year.

He first went to his GP at Knightwick Surgery when he discovered blood in his urine and complained of exhaustion and a loss of appetite that caused him to shed five stone in the year he first fell ill in May 2007.

He suspected early on that he had cancer but initial tests failed to establish what was wrong with him so he had to have a colonoscopy, endoscopy and CT scan at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester.

The family eventually received a telephone call from their GP on September 4 last year confirming Mr Sanders had cancer.

It was his wife Angela who heard the bad news first and when Mr Sanders looked at her, he knew straight away there was something badly wrong.

Mr Sanders says: “I could see the look of terror on Angela’s face. My doctor then told me I had a tumour on my left kidney. I said, ‘Where else is it?’ He said ‘You don’t want to know’. I said, ‘Yes, I do’ and he said flecks of cancer had spread to my lungs. He told me to have a large brandy. I said, ‘I can do better than that’. I drank a bottle of scotch. I thought I was a dead man. I was told I could only have 12 to 14 months to live. I thought, ‘My God, I’m going to be dead in a year’. It was a nightmare.”

Mr Sanders had to have a three-hour operation to remove his cancerous kidney. It took place at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch on September 29 last year. Before this he had to have a blood transfusion because he was so anaemic.

He was discharged on October 4 and returned to work as a transport manager for TM Logistics just a month later on November 3 – far sooner than many people expected. In January, his oncologist wanted him to have the drug Sutent, but it had not been approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) so Worcestershire Primary Care Trust, now NHS Worcestershire, refused to pay for it. The drug interferes with the growth of cancer cells and slows the growth of new blood vessels within the tumour.

NICE has since reversed its decision and the drug is now available on the NHS, but Mr Sanders had to begin an appeal fight to get the drug.

Backed by his oncologist, his children and Worcester MP Mike Foster, who all wrote letters on his behalf, he was told he could have the drug in February this year.

Mr Sanders had been told it would cost £8,000 for a three-month course of the drug privately but he felt that contributing his national insurance for so long he should not have to pay for it.

He says: “I was horrified and mortified. Not only was I fighting cancer, but the system too, which was harder to fight than the illness. I have never been out of work and I have worked since the age of 15. I have paid my national insurance. I could not understand why, in my hour of need, my country couldn’t get me what I needed when I needed it.”

Mr Sanders tries to stay positive but admits there are times when the gravity of his fight for survival hits him very hard.

“I have had many sleepless nights. I do get attacks of anxiety and I still get bad days when I wake up in the night.”

A scan after the operation seemed to show positive results but a second showed the cancer had returned and he was referred to University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and on Wednesday, August 26, this year he was prescribed another cancer drug, Afinitor (everolimus) which is now licensed in the UK for advanced kidney cancer patients.

The company backing the drug, Novartis AG, claim Afinitor reduces the risk of the disease worsening or death by 67 per cent.

Mr Sanders will not know if the drug has helped until he has his next scan on Tuesday, October 20, which he calls his personal D-Day.

He says he has had excellent support from staff, particularly his oncologist in Worcester, David Farrugia, and was also impressed with “the first class service” he received in Bristol, believing it is the system itself which is flawed.

He says his family had been ‘paramount’ throughout his cancer battle, including the support of his children and Angela, his wife of 13 years.

He has also had firm support from niece Jo MacKinnon, a senior nurse at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, and from his sister, Sue James. Mr Sanders, who says his job gives him direction and confidence, still works full-time for the company, which has been supportive to him during his cancer fight, particularly managing director Graeme Taylor.