If anyone has the time let's see if we can help this man out.  First of all I'd like to say Thanks for taking the time to read the events that I've gone through in the last few months.  In May 2004 I was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of Prostate Cancer, and told that I could have as little as 8-9 months to live, March of 2005 seemed to be as far as I would get.  I was 56 years old when I was diagnosed, married for 34years, in decent health, or so I thought, until as a result of my yearly check up a routine blood test showed followed by a biopsy showed that I had a Gleason grade 7 {very aggressive} type of prostate cancer.  I went through emotional Hell, this brought me to my knees, I was sure that my number was up, and I was worried sick about how my wife would cope without me, 34 years builds a very close bond.  My GP spoke to me about the options including a couple of new ways to treat PCa, and off I went initially to Stepping Hills Hospital in Stockport to be treated by the HIFU {High Intensity Focused Ultrasound} machine they have there. After some 5-6 weeks of tests {remember my clock is running down fast}, I was told that I was too far gone for the HIFU to help me, check out the link below.    At this point I didn't have a Plan B no reserve parachute, and I now had even less time to save my life.  Luckily for me Dr Brown {the HIFU specialist at Stepping Hills} was going the extra mile for me, phoning around other Specialists to see if there was anything they might be able to do for me.   Within a week he phoned me to tell me of a Cryotherapy treatment done at Sunderland Royal {and 3-4 other Hospitals in the UK}. I was referred there by my GP and saw Dr Greene who advised me that they would be able to treat me with this freezing technique, and that I'd be scheduled for the procedure on the 5th Oct.  Everything seemed to be going well until 3 days before I was to be admitted to Sunderland Royal, when I got a letter from Bolton PCT {aka Bolton Area Health Authority} telling me that We won't be funding the cost of this treatment, if you wish to go to Sunderland you will have to pay for it yourself. You have the right to appeal this decision.  At this point I had around 4-5 months left, I couldn't waste time waiting for an appeal,so I went up to Sunderland and paid ₤8,417 to be treated.    The treatment was successful, now 4 months later I have been given the all clear I don't have Prostate Cancer anymore, you've no idea how good that feels after going though the last few months.  Once I was back home, on my feet and doing well, I began thinking about the audacity of Bolton PCT in refusing to fund the treatment on the NHS. Seems that as a working class bloke, I simply wasn't worth the cost of the operation.  Maybe they forget who is paying their wages, I have worked since I was 15 {42 years now}, haven't been on the dole for over 30 years, haven't sent in a sick note for over 25 years, not even during the time since I was diagnosed with cancer. Yet in those years I've paid in well over ₤500,000 in NHS contribution and Income Tax, double that if you add what we pay in purchase taxes, but let's say ₤500,000 over 42 years {at least}.  But the only time that I ask for help, when my life is on the line, I'm told pay for it yourself by Bolton PCT, pity I don't live 12 miles down the road in St Helens where they have funded this treatment for folks who live in their town.  The NHS shouldn't be a POST CODE LOTTERY !!! a Lottery where you can lose your life simply because you live in the wrong town ? Isn't it a NATIONAL Health Service, where we are all treated equally, that's what I thought I was paying into! but it's not what I got! so I took Bolton PCT to task.    They took over 2 months to convene a meeting, and I was advised of the meeting 5 days before it, and given an 88 page document of what they based their decision on.  Can you imagine that, they took more than 8 weeks to prepare their case, and gave me 5 days to respond to it, sound like a level playing field to you ? Add to this that I was up against a practiced opponent, on their own ground, being Judged by five members of Bolton PCT, {few bets were placed on me winning my case}. What chance does the average person have in these circumstances ?  I attended the meeting spoke from the heart, told them what it feels like to have Cancer and at 56 told that you have a matter of a few months to live, and how it felt to be abandoned by a NHS system that I'd paid into for 42 years.  You can imagine how I felt a few weeks ago when I read that the NHS were offering to replace the hooks on that Radical Muslem Cleric {yea, the bloke who wants to blow all us infidels away}, yet the NHS were prepared to pay ₤30,000 to replace his hooks !  Maybe he's worth almost 4 times more than me ? maybe {just maybe he's paid more in than me} ? Anyway, after a 2 hour review the Board of Appeal actually came down with quite a favourable response, I guess that when you speak from the heart, and when you've been where I've been recently then most folks can't hold a stony heart.         I {innocently} thought that was that, Bolton PCT advised me that they would ask Sunderland Royal to refund the money, and that if Sunderland refused then, quote. Bolton PCT would consider making an ex gratia payment.  That was last week, but I now hear that Kevin Snee the Chief Executive of Bolton PCT has said that even though I won the appeal that he has the final authority as to IF any refund is to be paid, and with an attitude like that it looks like I won't get a refund.  I wonder if I'd lost the appeal if he'd have felt any obligation to second guess, revoke or dismiss the Appeal Boards decision ?  I am sickened by the arrogance and hard heartedness of folks in Public Office, we pay their wages, we fund the NHS, yet they show little concern to if we live or die.  I would gratefully appreciate your support on this Petition , if you would write to Kevin Snee at Bolton PCT to let him know what you think is the right thing to do, his e-mail is,   maybe with a cc to   If you do write an e-mail, please request a response, so that they can't simply delete them all, pretending they never heard from anyone, if you don't hear back from them, you'll know they don't care and that they are quite happy to ignore us all.  Let him know what you think, am I not worthy of the cost of the operation, does the NATIONAL Health Service treat a man in St Helens, Liverpool, Sunderland, Newcastle etc etc the same as a man from Bolton, are some of us worth less than others ?  The only time in my life I have needed or asked for anything, Bolton PCT refused to help as far as I know I'm the only man in the UK who has had to pay for his own treatment ! Everyone else {no matter there they came from} got it on the NHS.  I've tried speaking to my Local MP {Ruth Kelly}, but so far I've not heard back from her. Everyone else knows what I've been going through, it's been on the front pages of at least the Bolton Evening News, and the Manchester Evening News, plus being written up in The Sun &amp; the Mirror, and also reviewed on both BBC and ITV on several occasions, either Ruth doesn't know, nor wants to know what's going on in the life of a constituent !  Maybe an e-mail to her might help, Ruth is at.   Thanks for your time spent reading this, and for your considerations, it is appreciated and valued. As a final request, would you please Forward this Petition on to everyone in your address book, I need all the support, in numbers, that I can muster on this, it's the ONLY thing that Politicians and folks like Kevin Snee understand.  Yours Sincerely, Bob Norburn.  3702 Really puts life into perspective :eek: all these imigrants that come into this country get there treatment, are supposed to pay but they just go back home is a disgrace :mad: .And then theres the hard working and dying brits that get told to pay up for there treatment even though they have paid 50X what the treatment cost over the years. I would not bother with your Labour MP shes probably to concernd with muslim/ethernic/gay vote for the general election than to bother with a dying white man that has been finacially RAPED by Bolton.