Stephen Phillips' ironman challenge to help cancer sufferer Paul Thomas-Peter

Stephen Phillips is planning to compete in his third gruelling Ironman - involving a 2.4 mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a marathon run of 26.2 miles - in Vichy on August 25.

He said his father died last April of cancer and he himself served more than 20 years in the Army reserves, and so when he read in The Press about the plight of former soldier Paul Thomas-Peter, he decided to use the challenge to raise some funds for him.

The newspaper reported last month how Paul, 61, of Scarcroft Road, said he could die because the NHS refused to fund immunotherapy treatment which he could prove tackled his illness.

He said he had spent his personal pension and Army pension lump sum, and sold treasured possessions, to pay £180,000 for the treatment privately at a German clinic two years ago, and says the resulting improvement in his health had been "like a miracle".

But when his oncologist subsequently made an Individual Funding Request (IFR) for the NHS to pay for him to be given a course of the treatment in Leeds, it was turned down three times, and so he had launched a gofundme campaign to raise the £20,000 cost of the first course of treatment.

NHS England said then such decisions were made by an independent panel of clinical experts, healthcare professionals and patient representatives, and in this case, the drug companies involved had not got approval because evidence of effectiveness had not been provided to independent medicines regulators.

Paul said yesterday he had had his first treatment in Leeds on April 2, funding it himself with help from the appeal. “My strategy is that if I have good response to this course of treatment I will request funding again,” he said.

“I’m sure a lot of people die unnecessarily because of NHS England’s intransigent approach to cancer treatment.”

*The appeal has so far raised £3,580. To donate, go to: www.gofundme.com/keep-paul-alive.