RELATIVES and friends have rallied to help Tony Howells pay for a cancer drug which could prolong his life.

A group staged a 24-hour darts marathon at the Three Horse Shoes at Allensmore, raising more than £2,000.Other friends organised a beauty evening in Kingstone, which raised another £300.

NHS Herefordshire has twice turned down Tony’s request for the drug Temsirolimus, which consultants say could be a last chance to halt kidney cancer and possibly prolong the 52-year-old’s life.

When the Hereford Times revealed his plight, colleagues at Bulmers gave him £15,000 from a community fund for three months’ treatment.

Tony has been treated in Cheltenham for four weeks and is showing no difficult side effects. All the money raised is being paid into a treatment fund at Abbey National, Broad Street.