THE family of a Swansea cancer sufferer face a desperate race against time to get him a life-prolonging drug before it's too late.

Paul Popham, of Morriston, was given nine months to live in October.

After a campaign led by his daughter Joanne, Welsh Health Minister Edwina Hart has now ordered a clinical audit of the "postcode lottery" availability of Sutent, which can prolong life.

It has been prescribed in neighbouring Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend, but has not been given to any patient in Swansea this year.

Joanne's fear is that, even if the audit led to the drug becoming more widely available, it might be too late for her 63-year-old dad.

"At the moment, he is feeling fine in himself," she said.

"But he is worried, just like the rest of us, that as time goes on without treatment, the cancer is progressing.

"The clinical audit is good news because we need hope, as long as it isn't false hope.

"The problem is that it could take months, and we haven't got months.

"It is a race against time, but we are determined that his treatment will go ahead. In our minds that is what will happen.

"We cannot even think of the possibility that he might not be here when we know the drug is there and you can have it in places like Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend."

Announcing the clinical audit, Gower AM Mrs Hart said decisions made by health bodies, including NHS trusts and local health boards, would be closely scrutinised following the inconsistent prescribing of Sutent across Wales.

A study by NHS Wales medical director Professor Mike Harmer revealed during 2008 there were 73 requests for Sutent in Wales. Only 23 patients had their treatment agreed, while 48 had their treatment rejected — with six taking their cases to appeal.

All patients living in Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend recommended for the treatment by their consultants were given the drug.

But in Swansea, none of the 14 patients who were recommended for Sutent was given it.

Earlier this year, Miss Popham presented a petition containing almost 8,000 names to AMs Dai Lloyd and Bethan Jenkins, calling on the Assembly to do all it can to allow Welsh patients access to the treatment.

Her father, from Ullswater Crescent in Morriston, first started to suffer kidney failure in 1979.

In 2005 he was told he had a cancerous tumour on his kidney. In August, the former Alcoa fitter and turner was told it had spread and that chemotherapy could do nothing to stop it.

Then, in October, he was told he had nine months to live.

His appeal against Swansea LHB's decision not to prescribe him Sutent, which costs around £30,000 a year, will be heard on January 5.

"We are going to keep on fighting until he gets the treatment, whichever way it happens," said Miss Popham.

"We have heard of someone who, like him, is on dialysis but has been taking Sutent for three years. So where this idea that the drug only prolongs life for a short time came from, I don't know.

"Eight months against three years — how can you put a price on that?

"For Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend's policy to be so far removed from Swansea's is absolutely disgusting and so upsetting.

"No person should ever be in the position where they have cancer and are being forced to fight for life. It's just awful. When you are first told your father has kidney cancer and that treatment is available but he can't get it, you just cannot believe it.

"You cannot believe that, in this day and age, people have to fight to stay alive just because of money."

But, she emphasised, the family were not just fighting for Mr Popham. "My father is a great man. He doesn't want this to be just for him. He's fighting for everybody," said Miss Popham.

"He's only 63, he's still young. He has four children and four grandchildren that he idolises, with another due in January.

"He's got everything to live for."