Bowel cancer drug campaigner dies

Mr Gray died at home surrounded by family and friends

A cancer sufferer who won his fight to make NHS Grampian pay for a drug he hoped would prolong his life has lost his battle against the disease.

Mike Gray, 53, died on Wednesday at his home in Buckie, Moray, with his wife Tina, family and friends around him.

The health board had argued cetuximab would not be cost effective but following Mr Gray's protests eventually agreed to pay for the drug.

He spent his final days campaigning for a fairer system of prescribing drugs.

Doctors stopped treating Mr Gray, a former social care worker, last month after discovering his bowel cancer had spread.

He wasn't just the love of my life but the finest man I have ever known Tina Gray

He had been forced to pay �3,400 every fortnight for cetuximab after the health board initially agreed with the advice of the Scottish Medicines Consortium that the drug was not cost effective because it could only prolong his life, but not cure him.

Mr Gray took his fight to the public petitions committee of the Scottish Parliament, urging them to consider the provision of cancer drugs to ensure equity across NHS boards.

Speaking in March, Mr Gray told BBC Scotland he had no regrets about his campaign as he hoped others would benefit as a result.

In a statement issued through a family friend, his wife said: "Part of me just wanted Michael to take care. But he saw an injustice and I knew he was compelled to fight it.

"He wasn't just the love of my life but the finest man I have ever known."

'Highlighted inequities'

A spokesman for NHS Grampian said: "We have been saddened to hear of the death of Mr Gray.

"We would like to express our sincere sympathies to Mr Gray's wife and family. They are in our thoughts at this time."

Ian Beaumont, of Bowel Cancer UK, said: "Mike Gray was a very brave and inspirational man, whose fight to get cetuximab, an effective bowel cancer treatment, on the NHS highlighted the current inequities that patients face, not just in Scotland but across the UK.

"Hopefully, Mike's tireless campaigning will help more patients to get these treatments more easily."

His funeral will be held in Moray Crematorium on Monday.

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