A BRAVE Barrhead mum who is terminally ill with cancer has told of her joy after winning a year-long fight to have a revolutionary drug made routinely available to patients.

Lesley Graham, 39, spoke of her relief over the decision by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) to approve Kadcyla for use on the NHS for the first time.

The mother-of-two had urged health chiefs to make the secondary breast cancer treatment readily accessible to all Scots when doctors told her she had between four and six months to live in April last year.

Lesley’s fight saw NHS bosses agree to grant her access to the £15,000-per-bout wonder drug that has helped to stabilise the breast cancer which spread to her brain, liver and ribs – but she was keen to help others too.

As a second-line treatment, Kadcyla can give women an extra six months with family and friends compared to existing treatments, while some, such as Lesley, are able to live for even longer.

The SMC’s landmark decision, announced this week, will see more than 100 Scottish women battling breast cancer benefit from Kadcyla every year.

Speaking to the Barrhead News after learning of the decision, Neilston-born Lesley said: “I’m delighted. It’s been a long time coming.

“I never expected it. I thought they were just going to go through the motions but they’ve approved it and that’s delightful. It’s going to help so many people.

“I think no one knew about it until I had highlighted it. Gradually, as time wore on, other people joined the fight and maybe made it more prevalent in people’s minds.

“I’m proud of myself. If only someone had done this years ago I wouldn’t have had to go through all this.

“It will make a difference to other people and that was what I wanted – I wanted to help myself but I also wanted to help others who couldn’t find their voice.”

Earlier this year Lesley helped to front a Breast Cancer Now campaign along with three other women diagnosed with incurable breast cancer in a bid to raise awareness of the drug.

An online petition calling for Kadcyla to be made available in Scotland received over 13,000 signatures.

More than 4,600 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Scotland each year.

The disease is responsible for about 1,000 deaths annually.

Kadcyla specifically targets cancerous cells and leaves healthy cells untouched, causing fewer side effects than other treatment options.

Though Lesley has had to endure numerous highs and lows during the course of her treatment, she used husband Colin, 47, and daughters Rebekah, 12, and 15-year-old Charlotte as motivation to pull through.

Asked what has kept her going during the past 12 months, the former childminder said: “My girls. I didn’t want to go anywhere prematurely.

“I’ve not been keeping that well but I’ll come out the other side of it and pick up where I left off. I’m a fighter.

“I just can’t thank people enough. If I hadn’t had them behind me spurring me on it would’ve been a whole lot harder but we were all aiming for the same thing.

“You don’t know when this is going to affect your life and therefore you don’t know whose life it (the treatment) will go on and improve.”

Scottish health secretary Shona Robison, who personally met with Lesley last July, labelled the SMC’s announcement to permit Kadcyla as “good news”.

Ms Robison said: “I know that there will be many patients who will be pleased and will benefit from Kadcyla now being available through the NHS and I’ve certainly met a number of women who have been on Kadcyla and who have wanted to be on Kadcyla, and now this approval has been made the clinical decisions of who will be appropriate will mean that many women will benefit.

“I think around 100 women will benefit a year, and that’s good news.”

Though the drug has been approved for use in Scotland, Kadcyla is being withdrawn south of the border because of its cost.

The treatment’s £90,000-per-year private access fee saw the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in England publish final draft guidance late last year meaning it will be removed from the NHS in June.