Tessa Jowell daughter Jess Mills reveals she would have missed nine months cancer treatment on NHS

Dame Tessa Jowell would have lost out on nine months of cancer treatment had she only relied on the NHS for her care, her daughter Jess has revealed.

The former Labour Cabinet Minister died last month from an aggressive and rare form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma.

Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, just three days after Dame Tessa’s funeral last Tuesday, Jess Mills told of the precious final days she spent with her mother.

During her illness, the 70-year-old fought an inspiring campaign to improve care for brain cancer patients, who have limited treatment options available on the NHS.

Dame Tessa Jowell’s daughter Jess Mills has spoken to The Mail On Sunday about losing her to brain cancer last month 

Currently the only therapies they have access to are chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.

A lack of funding for brain cancer research in Britain means there have been no effective new drugs developed for the past 50 years.

In a BBC Panorama documentary, due to air tomorrow, which follows Dame Tessa’s campaign for better treatments in her final weeks, Jess refers to her mother’s case to show how limited NHS care is.

The 37-year-old said: ‘If we just were having the treatments we were given through the Health Service, Mum wouldn’t have had any treatment since last August. And we’re at the beginning of May.’

But thanks to the network of contacts she made during her time as a Public Health Minister, Dame Tessa was able to access medical advances through some of the world’s leading cancer experts.

Just three days after Dame Tessa's funeral last Tuesday, Jess Mills (pictured with her mother) told of the precious final days she spent with her mother.

Just three days after Dame Tessa’s funeral last Tuesday, Jess Mills (pictured with her mother) told of the precious final days she spent with her mother.

She was offered the chance to trial a number of experimental treatments, including a £240,000-per-year skullcap that emits electrical pulses into the brain to target the tumour.

It was the first-class care she received that made her acutely aware that others in the same situation were missing out and drove her to campaign to improve brain cancer treatment in the UK.

Jess told Panorama: ‘The only time I’ve seen Mum cry since she got ill she was sat in the [hospital] waiting room, and she had what she described as the absolutely heartbreaking realisation that those who had that privilege of access and income had the chance of living longer, and those that didn’t may well die much sooner.

‘That’s the most despicable example of inequality. In this moment her mission was identified.’

One of the main aims of Dame Tessa’s campaign is to give people with brain cancer access to ‘adaptive clinical trials’, which allow patients to switch between different drugs being trialled alongside each other depending on how effective they are proving.

The former Labour Cabinet Minister (speaking in the House of Lords after her diagnosis) died last month from an aggressive and rare form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma

The former Labour Cabinet Minister (speaking in the House of Lords after her diagnosis) died last month from an aggressive and rare form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma

For patients with rapidly progressing cancers such as glioblastoma being given speedier access to new treatments could make all the difference to prolonging their lives.

But the weeks leading up to her death were not only about the campaign – Act For Cancer – which Jess plans to continue. They were also about spending time with her family and granddaughter Ottie.

In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Jess reveals how the final 36 hours of Dame Tessa’s life were spent in bed at her Cotswolds home surrounded by family.

She says: ‘We just lay next to Mum and held her the whole time. The nurses said it was the most beautiful death they had ever seen. It was very special, very peaceful and more love than you could possibly describe. She was just so brave.’

She added: ‘She is very much with me at all times – it’s an incredible thing. I feel her presence in such an indescribably tangible way.’ 



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