Mike Wood MP: Rare Cancers Bill

Express & Star

On March 14, the House of Commons debated the Rare Cancers Bill.  Mike Wood MP shared a heartfelt speech about his Senior Parliamentary Assistant, Dan Horrocks, a four-time cancer survivor. Dan's journey is a powerful reminder of the urgent need for better support and research for rare cancers.  This bill would a lifeline for families like Dan's, offering hope and a fighting chance. Let's stand together and support this crucial legislation.   (Source: Mike Wood MP YouTube channel)

Transcript

00:00Madam Deputy Speaker, I'd like to start by congratulating the Honourable Gentleman,

00:04firstly on his fortune in being drawn in the Private Member's Bill Ballot,

00:09but then also on his wisdom for picking up this very important issue to take forward.

00:17Having been similarly lucky in being drawn from the Private Member's Bill Ballot

00:22myself a few weeks after I was first elected nearly a decade ago,

00:27I know quite the barrage of calls and emails that suddenly come your way, the very sudden

00:36and slightly fleeting popularity that comes from coming out towards the top of the ballot,

00:46and the very, very many, very worthy causes, campaigns that come your way to choose between.

00:53So the Honourable Gentleman couldn't have picked a better one than the Bill that

00:59is published in his name today, and if perhaps he is never quite as popular as he was in the

01:07few hours after the publication of the Private Member's Bill Ballot, I know that he would

01:14willingly exchange all of that popularity in an instant for the difference that this legislation

01:20can make to so many lives across the country, if and when we hope it is passed and implemented.

01:29Madam Deputy Speaker, I stand today not just as a member of this House, but as a friend,

01:37as someone who is deeply moved by the pain of seeing someone I care about, someone who has

01:43become like family, struggle against an insidious disease, because this Bill is not just another

01:50piece of legislation, it's a cry for help, it's a plea for those who are fighting for their lives,

01:57a lifeline for families who are watching their loved ones slip away bit by bit, day after day,

02:05because too often those diagnosed with rare cancers are left stranded in a system that

02:11really doesn't have the answers they need. We know the wonders that pharmaceutical companies

02:18can do in drug development, but the horrible truth is that few people are going to be able

02:28to or willing to invest the enormous amounts of money taking forward drug development, knowing

02:34that I think it's about one in 25,000 drug candidates ever make it to market for conditions

02:43that perhaps will require that drug at most a thousand or two thousand times a year, of course.

02:53I thank him for giving way and say, would he consider that there is a whole range of new

02:59modern immunotherapy drugs which could be used on these cancers that already exist and are used

03:07to treat other people but are simply not tried, and the cost of those trials is not overwhelming

03:17and we can do them and the NHS repurposing project should be doing them.

03:23The Honourable Lady is obviously absolutely right and I know that she approaches this subject

03:28with tragically a huge amount of personal experience. We've seen already and in some

03:36cases long marketed drugs being applied for new purposes and for new conditions but without those

03:45costly clinical trials they will not be licensed, they will not be approved for

03:53for prescription and that's why this bill is so important because clinical trials sadly are

04:01currently a distant hope for far too many and many patients really are left with the crushing

04:08gut-wrenching words there's nothing more we can do and those words can be a death sentence but

04:14they don't have to be not if we act and I want to tell you about and many of you the members of

04:22this house and house staff will know my senior parliamentary assistant and dear friend Dan

04:28Horrocks and Dan is perhaps best known to many people as the owner of Bella, his therapy shih tzu

04:36who he had whilst he was being treated for his third brain tumour and who is often seen roaming

04:44around the palace and on parliament street. Now Dan's worked for me since I was first elected in

04:492015 but he isn't just my senior parliamentary assistant he's someone who's become like family

04:56he's a father, a husband and a full-time cancer survivor. For 14 years he has fought this monster

05:03each time feeling the ground slip more from under him as his options narrow leaving him and his

05:11family with every reducing hope and we've seen him face unimaginable pain. I watched him endure

05:20brain surgeries, radiotherapy, the fear in his eyes each time the disease comes back

05:24and he hears his doctors tell him they don't know how much more his body can take whether he can

05:32be put through that next course of radiotherapy. Now Dan's journey started with something as simple

05:39as headaches as the honourable gentleman was referring to another case. Now headaches that

05:46no one thought were serious at the time as a teenager. Three GPs all misdiagnosed that tumour

05:54and for unknown reasons the GPs didn't want to send Dan for a scan, a simple scan to check that

06:00there were no malign causes would have identified those tumours months earlier. It was a free

06:08voucher for an eye test that saved Dan's life because it wasn't until by sheer luck an optician

06:15noticed something wrong in his eyes that anyone realized the nightmare he was living and so that

06:22optician literally saved his life. But what followed has been nothing short of a nightmare

06:30brain tumours, surgeries, radiotherapy, the heart-wrenching hope that every treatment

06:36might be the last only for the disease to rear its ugly head again and now the cancer has spread

06:43to his spine. His doctors and consultants have no answers, his options are dwindling

06:50and yet Dan's fight is far from over because Dan isn't just fighting for himself he's fighting for

06:56his two-year-old son Elijah, Elijah who deserves to grow up with his father by his side, cheering

07:02him on at his first football match, guiding him through life's milestones. Dan dreams of walking

07:09his son to school every day, of being there for every moment that really matters whether it's

07:15his graduation or his wedding, the moments that every parent should have the chance to see and

07:22he's fighting with his wife Sonia who has been his rock to all of us. Sonia who has stayed by

07:28his side through every hospital visit, through every sleepless night, through every moment of

07:34doubt and fear. Together they've dreamed of a life growing old together, of watching their child grow

07:41up, of building memories that will last forever but that future is slipping away and that is why

07:51we're here today to make sure that no parent, no family, no child has to face the horror of rare

07:59cancer without hope. This bill is not just about changing laws or regulations, it's about giving

08:06families like Dan's a fighting chance. It mandates a review of the orphan drug regulations to ensure

08:14that rare cancers get the investment they so desperately need. It creates the national

08:20specialty lead to drive research and innovation. It establishes a registry service to help connect

08:29patients to the clinical trials that really could save their lives. So this bill gives hope,

08:37a real chance for families who are facing the unimaginable. And so I stand here today with a

08:43heart full of hope but also with a heavy heart because I know that time is not on their side.

08:51Dan doesn't have the luxury of waiting, his family doesn't have the luxury of waiting.

08:56No one diagnosed with rare cancer has that luxury and so this is why this bill is so very very

09:04urgent. We spend a lot of time in this place talking about politics but this is not about

09:10politics. This is about real people like Dan who desperately need our help. Because cancer doesn't

09:16care about politics, it doesn't care about what background you come from, your age, your gender

09:21or what party you belong to. It strikes indiscriminately, it takes what it wants

09:27and it leaves devastation in its wake. That is why we must respond with urgency, with compassion

09:34but most importantly with action. And so I strongly support this bill and I urge all members

09:41here today please stand with us. Stand with families who are clinging to the hope that there

09:47is something more we can do. Stand with those like Dan who are fighting for more time, for more moments,

09:56for more chances to hold their loved ones close. Because the cost of inaction is not just measured

10:03in money, it's measured in precious lives lost. Let's pass this bill. Let's give people like Dan

10:10and his family the hope they so desperately need. Let's give them a future, a future that is still within reach.

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