Stuart Cunningham, 51, husband to Tracy, father to Nicole, 16, and Collette, 13, and stepdad to Frankie, 18, and Kane, 15, died at home on Saturday following a nine month battle with Cancer, which started in his kidneys.

Stuart and his family had begged the NHS to prescribe him use of life prolonging drug Afinitor but were told it would not be cost effective.
Afinitor is an option for patients who have not responded to Sunitinib – the primary drug used to fight the condition.

Tracy told the News : "We decided that we would try and get Stuart on Afinitor and wouldn't bother with any more scans. We wanted to live life a bit."

The family were told Stuart may be able to undergo a clinical trail on the drug at Birmingham but then a tumour was discovered in Stuart's brain and they were told this meant he could not undergo the trial. It was then that the family decided to fund the £37,000 a year drug themselves.

Tracy, 42, who first met Stuart at East Midlands Airport 18 years ago, where he worked as a security manager, said: "There needs to be more awareness that there are drugs out there. It's devastating enough to be told that someone in your family has got cancer, you shouldn't be allowed to not have the drugs.

She added: "Cancer turned a strong man into a vulnerable and frightened man."

Stuart, a marathon runner, first felt ill on a cruise last February. He went to hospital and was told everything was ok, but later started developing back pain. A MRI scan in November showed he had primary kidney cancer which had spread to his lungs.

"He was sensitive and brave and very much a family man," said Tracy.
Stuart kept a diary during his illness. Daughter Collette, said: "When he had pain he hid it well.
"It wasn't until we read his diary we realised how bad it was."