Tragedy of the mum who died after being denied NHS cancer drug trial because of Covid

A mum-of-two who was denied a potentially life-saving NHS cancer drug trial because of the Covid-19 pandemic has died.

Tributes are being paid to Dr Wendy Peake, who passed away surrounded by her family at home in Bowdon, Altrincham, last month. She was 61.

Dr Peake's family have now spoken out to thank thousands of people who donated funds to an appeal launched on her behalf after the NHS drug trial she had been accepted onto was cancelled due to Covid just days before it was due to start in 2020.

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Almost £200,000 was raised and used to fund private treatment, but the family revealed that sadly the cancer spread to her lungs.

They said, however, that the treatment funded by the kindness of others 'definitely prolonged' her life, meaning they were 'able to make more amazing memories with her'.

Dr Peake, an educational psychologist who also worked as a teacher, told the Manchester Evening News at the time she had passed 'difficult, horrendous assessments' to qualify for the treatment, but was told in a phone call by a specialist nurse the trial would not be going ahead and had been suspended.

"We were beside ourselves," she said. "I'm never normally in a low mood, but that night I was in a low mood. I cannot describe it. I wrote to Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer, you name it I wrote to them in desperation. It was devastating. It's just so wrong, isn't it?

"If you can afford it, you can have it, if you can’t you die."

Dr Peake spoke out widely about the situation she found herself in, despite the NHS saying at the time cancer treatments wouldn't be affected by the Covid pandemic. Her story was also shared by the BBC's Panorama.