A CANCER suffering mum-of-two is celebrating after being told she will get a potentially life-enhancing drug.

But Michelle Hilton today revealed that she was so fed up with red tape after initially being told funding was not available for Herceptin that she had been preparing to shell out more than £1,000 for the treatment herself.

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph told the 37-year-old of Beechwood Drive, Blackburn, that she would receive the treatment after bosses at The Christie Hospital, Manchester, confirmed they would pay for it.

She said: "I think it is brilliant. This drug could give me 12 months more to live. If it goes beyond that then it is even better. It means I can spend more time with my family."

Michelle, who lives with husband Barrie and daughters Peri, 14, and Bethany, 11, said she was going to the hospital this Wednesday to receive the treatment.

But Barrie slammed the handling of the affair. The Evening Telegraph notified Michelle that the drug was available yesterday -- four hours before hospital bosses.

Barrie said: "Obviously I am delighted Michelle has got the drug, but I am very annoyed. She was due to see her consultant next Wednesday anyway.

"Were they going to wait until then to tell her?"

Michelle, who has suffered from breast cancer for six and half years, was initially told last week that the drug would not be funded by the hospital on the NHS and that she would have to apply to East Lancashire Health Authority for emergency funding.

But Joanna Wallace, chief executive of the Christie Hospital, where Michelle is a patient, today said the position had changed and the drug was now being prescribed by the hospital and funded by the NHS.

The issue of funding between health authorities will be resolved at a later date.

The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) was expected to give Herceptin the green light in July, although that has been postponed until November while it reviews the evidence about using it on its own to tackle cancer.

Mrs Wallace said Christie's had not waited for that review in light of the fact that patients in some health authorities were already being prescribed the drug.

Patients in Merseyside and Birmingham are using Herceptin as part of a trial.

Hugh Lamont, head of communication at the NHS Executive North West, said Christie's had followed the lead of the Clatterbridge Centre for Ontology, in the Wirral, which prescribes the drug.

He said: "It was inappropriate for two cancer centres just 15 miles apart to operate differently. As from now, all patients at Christie's who are prescribed Herceptin by their cancer specialist, will receive the treatment.

"There is a meeting next month with Christie's and health authorities to thrash out the funding issue."

Herceptin targets an over-active gene -- HER2 -- associated with cancer growth in one in five women. Tests showed Michelle is in this 20 per cent.

Research has proved it slows the growth and spread of tumours and an American study found that patients given the drug in addition to chemotherapy had a 10 per cent better chance of survival.

Mrs Wallace said: "It is not a magic drug. What it could do is extend the life of a patient by up to 12 months."

Michelle was prepared to pay for the drug after being told funding was not available, a decision that left her stunned.

She has had three lots of chemotherapy and two lots of radiotherapy. She also had a brain tumour for which she received radiotherapy.

East Lancashire Health Authority today said: "We have received confirmation that this drug will be available on the NHS to patients that have been clinically assessed.

"Which patients are eligible is a matter between the patient and his or her consultant."