CANCER sufferer Alyson Cooper is to write to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt in her battle to be given the life-saving drug Herceptin.

The mother-of-two failed in her appeal to have Bolton Primary Care Trust's decision to refuse her the drug overturned.

But her hopes have been raised after mother-of-four Elaine Barber, from Staffordshire, won her case to have the treatment paid for when the Health Secretary threw her weight behind her campaign.

On Monday, North Stoke Primary Care Trust rejected Mrs Barber's appeal, saying it was not convinced of the drug's safety or cost-effectiveness.

Mrs Hewitt intervened on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the North Stoke Trust decided that Mrs Barber's had exceptional circumstances which meant she should be prescribed the drug.

Mrs Cooper, from Bradshaw, said today: "It's fantastic news for Elaine, and I'm thinking about writing to Patricia Hewitt myself.

"If that's what is needed to get Herceptin then she should do it for all women and not just one."

Mrs Cooper, a nurse for 25 years, has been told she could have just two years to live after the cancer she beat 13 years years ago returned.

She has now appealed for a second time against Bolton Primary Care Trust's decision to refuse her the £21,800-a-year Herceptin treatment.

Ironically, the hearing is scheduled for November 22 - the day on which her current cancer treatment ends and she needs to start taking the, as yet unlicensed, Herceptin drug.

Her solicitor has written to health bosses threatening an injunction if they do not authorise treatment by the end of her current cycle of chemotherapy.

Last month, Mrs Hewitt said Primary Care Trusts could not use cost as a reason for refusing to prescribe the wonder drug, which has "stunning" results according to recent research.

Prime Minister Tony Blair added his backing, saying Primary Care Trusts should "go ahead and allow people to use it".

A second cancer sufferer, 39-year-old mother-of-two Amanda D'argue, from Radcliffe, has also had an appeal to be treated with Herceptin turned down by the PCT and her second hearing is due to be heard on November 22.

Mrs D'argue, who has had a mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer, has organised a petition and already 2,000 people have signed it, demanding Herceptin be made available to anyone who needs it.

She said: "I really don't think the PCT can do anything but back down now in light of what has happened in Staffordshire.

"At the end of the day this is something that desperately needs to be sorted out and shouldn't be held up by red tape."

A spokesman for Bolton PCT said: "Funding decisions are the responsibility of local PCTs acting in the best interests of local people, but within national guidance.

"There is currently no national guidance to recommend the funding of treatment with Herceptin for women with early-stage breast cancer.

"If any new guidance is issued by the Department of Health, we will implement it locally, through the appropriate PCT processes."