Mrs Devonport has thanked the benefactor in a letter.

Kathleen Devonport, 63, lost an appeal for the kidney cancer drug Sutent to be prescribed on the NHS in March.

But an anonymous well-wisher has now stepped in to pay for the first three months of a course of a similar cancer drug, Nexavar.

Both treatments can slow down the spread of cancer and shrink tumours.

Mrs Devonport, of Chilton, near Spennymoor, said she was "delighted" by the generous donation but saddened that other kidney cancer patients were being denied drug treatments on the NHS.

She said: "It is dreadful that people can't get these drugs. I just feel very lucky."

Her husband, Keith, said the couple had no clues to the benefactor's identity but had thanked them in a letter passed on by their doctor.

County Durham Primary Care Trust said it would not comment on individual cases.