Loose Women's Nadia Sawalha's NHS fight after heartbreaking moment in doctor's office

Nadia Sawalha has been campaigning tirelessly to help fund a legal appeal that could enable the NHS to roll out Enhertu, a life-extending cancer drug

Loose Women's Nadia Sawalha has opened up about the heart-wrenching reason behind her fight to secure access to a life-prolonging cancer drug in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The TV personality, at 59 years old, is pouring her efforts into championing a legal challenge that might lead to NHS approval for distributing Enhertu.

This revolutionary drug, which combines chemotherapy and targeted therapy, is crucial for the treatment of several types of cancer such as breast cancer. Women living with secondary breast cancer throughout England, Wales, and Northern Ireland have been plunged into uncertainty after the healthcare watchdog NICE ruled out the NHS provision of Enhertu on the grounds of expense.

Conversely, patients in Scotland and over 65 countries worldwide already benefit from this medication. When questioned about her motivation for joining the heartfelt campaign, Nadia revealed to Wales Online.: "My friend desperately needing it, secondary breast cancer and being in the room with her when she was told her previous line of treatment had ended and she needed Enhertu."

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She added with emotion: "We only heard three days before that they weren't going to make it available. It was heartbreaking, she's so stoic all the time, she's always worrying about other people but she broke down," reports Wales Online.

This week, Nadia shared the devastating news that another friend who had been part of her campaign to make the treatment available in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland had lost her battle with breast cancer. Nadia had previously gone topless outside the House of Parliament to raise awareness, and one of the women who joined her has since passed away.

She told Express: "Since that day when we were on the green, one of our women has actually died, she died two days ago in a hospice and her next line of treatment would've been Enhertu."

"It's just awful and then we have a number of women from that group... there's 31 women a day who die from secondary breast cancer, there's a number of women from that photograph who, they need Enhertu next. They have young children, they are young women and it's just heartbreaking."

Nadia is set to meet with the Health Secretary next month, and she expressed hope that he would be more understanding of their plight, given his own experience with cancer at a young age.