When a Sevenoaks man was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in his left lung he didn't think much of his chances.

Jack Lawlor, who runs The Town Barber in High Street, turned first to a six-month chemotherapy course with mixed results.

Then he joined a medical trial and started on a course of nivolumab, a new immunotherapy drug which effectively shrank his tumours by half.

Next week, on Wednesday August 10, medicines advisory body NICE will decide whether the treatment should be available on the NHS.

Now the 66-year-old wants to make sure lung cancer sufferers are deprived of treatment that could dramatically extend their lives.

"It is lifesaving," the married dad-of-one said. "I don't think I would be alive if not for the drugs.

"I am living and am still working and I know I wouldn't be if not for this.

"I understand they [NICE] have to make choices and but they have already approved it for skin cancer."

While nivolumab has been approved for some forms of aggressive skin cancer, in December NICE issued a preliminary ruling against the adoption for other forms of the disease, citing lack of cost effectiveness.

While promising, a year's treatment costs roughly £60,000.

The move was greeted with dismay by another lung cancer Simon Lamont-Brown, from Boughton Monchelsea who said he was brought back from the brink by the 'miracle' treatment.

Dr Riyaz Shah, consultant medical oncologist at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW), said he would be disappointed if NICE decides not back nivolumab, but also warned against overemphasising its potency.

He said: "What we know is that for about one in five people it can have a profound effect. For a proportion of patients, it can be hugely beneficial.

"These really are very important drugs and to lung cancer sufferers they are the biggest development in the last 30 years.

"But they are not easy drugs to take with many side effects. They are very toxic and can be very problematic for some people."