www.kentonline.co.uk/tunbridge-wells/news/diabetes-sufferer-desperate-for-life-changing-treatment-193946/A diabetes sufferer spending thousands of pounds a year on a treatment which changed his life is desperate to have it provided by the NHS.
Brendan Hyland, from Tunbridge Wells, says he relies on a special form of inhalable insulin to make his life bearable but is forced to import it from the USA.
The drug, Afrezza, is not licensed in the UK but is approved Food and Drug Administration in the United States and available on prescription there.
Brendan currently has to buy inhalable insulin from the USA because the NHS won't provide it.
Diagnosed at the age of 10, he struggled for years to keep his blood-sugar levels stable and reports having developed an allergy to insulin's injectable form.
Without the medicine Brendan experiences nasty side effects and an allergic reaction to the injections available on the NHS, becoming exhausted and even passing out.
Up until recently, staying stocked up on the drug cost the 42-year-old £450 each month to keep his type-1 diabetes under control.
However, the pharmaceutical wholesaler which sells Brendan the drug has doubled their price leaving him terrified he won't be able to afford it.
"It's dire," he said.
"I'm in a situation now where I feel like I either find the money or die. I can stay alive on injectable insulin but my quality of life would be so poor it wouldn't be worth it."
Afrezza comes in the form of disposable inhalers costing hundreds of pounds each month.
He first began using the medicine in 2015 after getting in touch with American diabetes educator and author of Think Like a Pancreas Gary Scheiner who told him about it.
"Afrezza has literally transformed my life," he said.
"Not only do I now have near perfect blood glucose control and my energy and weight management has been greatly improved, I have also come off the additional medications I needed to treat the side effects of diabetes, indirectly saving the NHS money.
"More importantly I have had no sick days from work and have continued to be a functioning member of society since I changed to this insulin, a testament to how I can now live as close to a normal life as possible."
However, despite the benefits and attempts by doctors to help him he has been unable to have the treatment prescribed to him by the NHS as it remains unlicensed.
