Woman to get new cancer drug only after going public

A FAMILY that fought for their dying mother to be given a chance at life with a highly specialised drug have finally had their request granted — after being forced to go public with her story.

Mother-of-four Angela Hayden, 50, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of cancer, in November 2010, and had been receiving chemotherapy at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin. Last summer, she thought she had beaten the disease but, unfortunately, it returned and her chances of survival are now dramatically reduced.

According to Angela’s daughter Teresa, the family had been told by her mother’s consultant in Beaumont that a new drug, not yet approved here, was her best chance.