Michael Kennett, 66, was found to have bowel cancer seven years ago, but he has now run out of all but the most expensive treatment options.

His family are being forced to raid their life savings to spend up to £45,000 for a drug described as his last hope. Doctors have advised him that unless he receives Avastin, which is not approved for use on the NHS, there is very little that they can do.

Mr Kennett, from Whitehaven, Cumbria, heard yesterday that he had been refused the treatment by his local health authority, even as an exceptional case. “The cancer has spread to his lungs and liver and we’ve been told, it’s Avastin or that’s it, ‘game over’,” his daughter, Leanne Graham, said. “We’ve been appealing to the local primary care trust to make a decision for ten weeks but they’ve said no and won’t explain why. My Dad is running out of time, and so we’ve got no choice – if he wants the treatment he’ll have to pay for it.”

With support from the charity Bowel Cancer UK, Mr Kennett is hoping to challenge the trust’s decision. But the former fitter in the steel industry has been told that he needs to start an estimated 18 months of treatment with Avastin as soon as possible, at a cost of nearly £2,500 a month.

“My Mum and Dad have put a little bit away over the years to buy a nice bungalow and enjoy their retirement, but now that has gone completely out of the window,” Mrs Graham, 32, said.

“We’re just trying to scrape together the funds now and haven’t really considered what happens if we run out of money. Other patients had been forced to sell their homes or cash in pensions.”

Current rules suggest that patients also risk forfeiting their NHS care if they pay privately for treatment, depending on the views of health trusts. One of the highest-profile cases has featured Linda O’Boyle, from Essex, who died this year after being refused further NHS care after she paid £11,000 to receive another drug for bowel cancer, Cetuximab.

Mrs Graham said yesterday that her father had been told he could pay for Avastin and receive it at an NHS hospital, “but we haven’t been told the full implications of that. The doctors seem as confused as we are,” she added. “If it comes to it, I suppose we’ll take the trust to court.”

Mr Kennett, who has kept a positive outlook throughout a succession of earlier treatments, said: “The frustration of knowing that this treatment is out there, and not being able to get it, has been heartbreaking.”

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