The family of a girl with a rare cancer have received a cruel Christmas blow.

The NHS has refused to match-fund life-saving surgery for Kelly Turner, 16, having originally refused to carry it out itself.

St Edmund’s Catholic School pupil Kelly needs £1 million for specialist treatment in America.

The Kelly Turner Fundraising cause had raised £354,000 by Monday, mainly through the support of donations and a mass of fundraising events in the community.

But NHS England has said it would not match that for what it calls private healthcare, because NHS experts are not clear whether the treatment in the USA is experimental.

Kelly was given two years to live 14 months ago, so needs the surgery by next October.

Her father, Martin, said: “This is the worst blow since we were told that Kelly had cancer.

“This is an absolute kick in the teeth because all we want for Christmas is for Kelly to be well. They keep saying it’s not about the money but I fear it’s the lack of expertise in the UK, and this is life and death.” Kelly has desmoplastic small-round-cell tumours.

The tumours are a type of sarcoma which affect only 20 teenagers annually worldwide.

The only place that can carry out the surgery is the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York – but at a cost of 1.2 million dollars (£1 million) for that and follow-up treatment.

Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke had written to the NHS asking for match-funding when the centre agreed to operate once the first sum of about £407,000 (based on rates this week) was raised just for the surgery.

Immunotherapy, designed to wipe out the last tumours, would be done once the rest of the
£1 million was raised.

But health boss Dr Jonathan Fielden, has now refused Mr Elphicke’s plea.

Dr Fielden, NHS England director of specialised commissioning, told the MP: “Unfortunately the NHS cannot subsidise what is effectively private healthcare.

“Information from our clinical experts indicates the surgery is extremely high risk and that intervention proposed is at best experimental.

“It is not clear from the letter whether this treatment is being conducted under such experimental trial conditions with the appropriate governance around monitoring outcomes and safety.

“This raises a general concern and the family will, I am sure, want to be really confident in this being the right course of action.”

Mr Elphicke has now said: “It’s just incredible to see how our community has come together and raised more than £350,000 for Kelly.

“The NHS should have listened to us and agreed to match-fund what has been raised.
“I will keep doing what I can to raise the case for Kelly.

“And I would urge everyone, for the sake of Kelly and her family, please keep fundraising.”

For full details of the latest fundraising efforts for Kelly see this week's Dover Mercury newspaper.