EXCLUSIVE: A mum with just weeks to live, after her breast cancer spread, has pleaded for the life-extending drug Enhertu to be made available on the NHS for thousands of patients
A dying mum has been denied a drug which may have helped keep her alive long enough to see her daughterâs prom.
Jess Duggan, 44, is speaking out to plead for the life-extending drug to be made available on the NHS, to give terminally ill mums vital extra time with their children. âThis is an emergency for the families, please donât do this to the children,â she said in a message to the drug companies and ministers.
The Enhertu drug, which could have given her extra time, is being denied Jess and thousands of other women with breast cancer in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, yet it is free in Scotland and 26 other European countries.
âWe are literally dying while waiting for this drug to become available,” she told the Mirror. The mum-of-two, from Lewes in East Sussex, who is married to Simon, 46 and has two âamazingâ children aged 12 and 15, feared she has just weeks to live and was desperate to spend more time with them before she dies.
She wants her daughter to enjoy her prom later this month, free from the heartbreak of grief.
Jess Duggan wants terminally ill mums to be given viral extra time with their children
“I am on a ‘Hail Mary’ chemo which Iâm praying will work, but if it doesnât I am looking at a few weeks left,â she said. âIf Enhertu had been available for me to try six months ago perhaps it could have worked and given me more time. I donât have the opportunity to find out if I could have been a mum for another year.â
The mum says she is speaking out to help others as it is now too late for her. âI could be planning a summer of birthday celebrations with my children instead of worrying they will be navigating their way through grief on their 13th and 16th birthdays celebrations.â
Jess wants her children to be spared the heartbreak of grief as they hit important milestones during their teenage years
Breast Cancer Now is demanding urgent action after new NHS drug spending limits changed in April, creating a fresh opportunity to approve life-extending breast cancer drug Enhertu.
Following more than two years of tireless campaigning, the charity is calling on pharmaceutical companies Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca, NICE and NHS England, to reach a deal and make Enhertu available for those who need it now.
Enhertu is a drug that could extend thousands of lives but it was rejected for use on the NHS in 2024 for being too expensive. It is the first licensed targeted treatment for patients with HER2-low breast cancer that cannot be removed surgically or that has spread to other parts of the body, known as metastatic breast cancer.
Jess, who worked for the local Rivers Trust, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017 and underwent two mastectomies, had her ovaries removed as well as having chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
She then had six wonderful cancer-free years âappreciating lifeâ and spending time with her family.
But then in 2023 she found a lump on her collar bone and was given the devastating news, she had secondary breast cancer in her lymphatic system, bones and lungs.
âYou feel like the ground’s giving way beneath you because you just kind of instantly know what that means. The diagnosis at that stage, once they’d done the imaging, it was in my lymphatic system, bones and lungs. It was not great.â
Her last treatment, which worked successfully for months, sadly stopped working in October. Since then, she has tried a chemotherapy and an immunotherapy trial, but sadly neither worked.
Thousands of women like Jess have been denied the drug which is available free in Scotland
During her treatment, the mum had to endure a growth against her vocal cord nerve: âI literally woke up one day and couldn’t talk or swallow liquids. She was given a tablet chemotherapy which helped for 18 months but then that stopped working. That was probably when I would have gone on to Enhertu,â she explained.
But it was not available to Jess and thousands of other women, and in the last few weeks she has received the heartbreaking news that the disease has progressed to her brain and liver. She is currently on chemotherapy called Eribulin and explained: âWe’re clinging to a thread of hope that it could work. I don’t think the doctors are overly optimistic.
âIf Iâd have had Enhertu I could be in quite a different place right now. I would have more time with my children so potentially I’m looking at weeks if this chemotherapy doesn’t work and my daughter’s about to turn 16 she’s in middle of her GCSEs and due to go to her prom at the end of June.
âMy son’s 13 at the end of September and the hope of reaching that milestone is pretty unlikely. I’m literally just hoping I don’t end up critically ill in hospital during that period so that she can actually enjoy those milestones. We’re on that knife edge now. If something tips I can go into liver failure quite quickly.
âIt really is kind of life and death, day by day, week by week when we could have been planning a lovely summer over these milestones and instead we’re kind of just hoping and praying that we can just get through these milestones so that it’s not traumatic for her.â
Jess said she was âfuriousâ when she first heard the drug was not on the NHS and added: âIt is not a miracle drug, it’s not a cure, but it can give more time. What value are you putting on people’s lives?â
Claire Rowney, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, said: âWeâre here, once again, asking for Enhertu to be made available for those who need it, and we urgently need to see this happen, now. The tragic reality is that a number of the incredible women who campaigned with us back in 2024 for this treatment to be made available on the NHS have since died, denied the chance to benefit from this drug and live longer.
âWhile itâs sadly too late for them, a solution must be reached urgently so history doesnât repeat itself for the women who need access to Enhertu now. Weâve spoken to women whoâve exhausted every treatment option available to them while knowing that Enhertu couldâve given them more time; time to see their children grow up, celebrate another birthday, and make precious memories with loved ones. Some have spent their savings trying to access Enhertu privately. Others have considered uprooting their lives, leaving their homes and families behind to move to Scotland where the drug is available.
âThe governmentâs decision to increase how much the NHS can spend on new medicines presents a vital opportunity to break this deadlock. But this opportunity requires action now. People we hear from arenât asking for miracles. Theyâre asking for time. For options. For a fair chance to benefit from innovations in medicine and access to the same effective treatments as women in other parts of the world.
âDaiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca must urgently work with NICE and NHS England to reach an agreement. People with metastatic breast cancer do not have time to wait.â
Breast Cancer Now has started a new campaign called Enhertu Now, demanding drug companies Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca, NHS England, and NICE urgently agree a deal to make Enhertu available to those who need it now. The petition has more than 53,000 signatures, despite just launching a fortnight ago, proving that this drug is still important to people.
A statement for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence said: “Enhertu for Her-2 low metastatic breast cancer remains the only breast cancer treatment NICE has been unable to recommend for patients, in the last 8 years. (25 positive recommendations since April 1 2018).
“This was because, at the price offered by the company, in 2024, the treatment was too expensive for the benefits it provided and NICE concluded it was not cost effective. As part of the US-UK trade deal, announced in December 2025, NICE is now using a new higher threshold for cost effectives decisions.
“Given these new circumstances, discussions involving NICE, the companies and NHS England have resumed to try to seek agreement on a commercial offer that would make Enhertu cost effective. NICE stands ready to consider reviewing the guidance if new evidence, including a new commercial offer, were to be put forward by the company. NICE remains committed to getting the best care to patients and we understand the impact this decision has had on the breast cancer community. “
