A cancer sufferer is telling drug commissioners today why they need to add a powerful treatment to the NHS list of anti-cancer drugs.

Dorothy Gale, who is battling colon and liver cancer, has been invited to make her case to Nice - the National Institute of Clinical Excellence - in London.

Mrs Gale, 73, of Silsden, near Keighley, credits chemotherapy drug oxaliplatin for giving her up to an extra year of life.

But she had to pay £15,000 for the treatment because it is not available on the NHS. Now she wants other cancer suffers to have the same advantage, but on the NHS.

Nice has invited Mrs Gale to speak to doctors, clinicians and experts in the field.

She said: "I was told by the surgeon if I hadn't had oxaliplatin the cancer would have grown much faster.

"I will carry on fighting and I will tell Nice it is worth it because it gave me another year of life.

"If they decide no, people will have to go on dying."

She is supported by the national charity Colon Cancer Concern.

The drug is already available in America and some European countries and trials had shown it to be very effective in extending life and improving the quality of life.

Ian Beaumont, the charity's communications director, said: "Prompted by ourselves, Nice is reviewing the situation to see if there is more evidence to make the drug widely available."

A Nice spokesman said it would make a decision based on the clinical cost-effectiveness of the drug after today's meeting.

l Mrs Gale has completed a fourth episode of a Video Nation Diary, in conjunction with the BBC, about her struggle with cancer. It can be seen at www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/videonation/dorothy_wizard. shtml.