Wrexham doctor raises over £50,000 for cancer treatment

Dr Asha Umrawsingh launched a fundraiser, which has now topped over £50,000 to help fund treatment she cannot receive on the NHS.

Asha was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer in 2015. In 2022 she found out that the cancer had spread and she received two lines of treatment. 

A biopsy showed that the cancer had a mutation called PIKC3A, and there is a drug that targets this specific mutation, but Asha was turned down for funding on the NHS as she does not meet the criteria set out by NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) due to the treatment she has already received.

Asha explained: “It’s a little bit trying at the moment because there are such strict rules governing what drugs can or can’t be used in any cancer patient based on what they have received before so in my case, my oncologist wanted me to have this drug because when the cancer spread even more in summer last year, they biopsied it and showed that it had this mutation but unfortunately with the lines of medication I had been already on, even though my oncologist and the local multi-disciplinary teams strongly suggested I be given the chance for this drug, the cancer board of Betsi decided against it.”

Asha has also now been turned down by the company that produces the drug, on the same grounds as the NHS.

They are now looking at other treatments and opinions to help Asha's battle, some of which may be private. The fundraiser will help cover costs.

Dr Asha Umrawsingh (Image: Asha Umrawsingh)

She said: “I’ve been very lucky because I work with an amazing group of colleagues in Wrexham A and E so they just basically shared the death out of the fundraising link and tweeted it so it went all over the place very quickly and in three days we managed to raise the funds that we were kindly asking for."

Asha, who is a doctor at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital, is also active in campaigning to help other Stage 4 Breast Cancer patients in Wales.

She supports METUP UK, which is the only UK charity that advocates for Stage 4 Breast Cancer patients.

Asha said: “No two stage 4 Breast Cancer patients are alike and breast cancer is something that when it comes back it has the potential to mutate so it becomes resistant to previous treatments so that’s why you always have to keep on top of it.”

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Asha believes in patient advocacy and is working to help signpost patients to charities, and the benefits they can be entitled to when diagnosed with cancer.

The issue, according to the charity, is that many breast cancer patients in Wales need better access to things like support, drugs and data, which will help patients and improve life expectancy.

There has also been a petition to the Senedd, calling on the Welsh Government to provide better support for people with metastatic breast cancer in Wales.

The petition, Don’t Leave Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients Behind, called for every person with metastatic breast cancer in Wales to have access to a dedicated secondary breast cancer clinical nurse specialist.

Asha said: “At least patients (would) know who to turn to if they have questions or concerns and I suppose in my case being a health care professional and a doctor, I have an idea of, if something goes wrong, who I turn to.”

She added: “The nurse at the treatment centre in Wrexham, they are so phenomenal because they help support the patients in any way that they can.”

She said: “I’m hoping that things get better, I’m just waiting patiently.”