Last updated at 14:46 18 December 2007

A young mother has missed out on a life-saving bone marrow transplant because her health deteriorated while bureaucrats argued over who should fund the operation, it has emerged.

Samantha Cousins, 34, who suffers from Hodgkin's lymphoma, was initially denied the £100,000 operation because of the 'postcode lottery.'

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Only after six months of wrangling did health bosses in Wrexham, north Wales, where she lives, finally agree to pay for her treatment - even though she would have been automatically eligible if she lived just eight miles over the border in England.

But the delay, it has emerged, has left Miss Cousins, who has two young sons, aged eight and 11, facing an uncertain future.

Today she revealed that she was forced to undergo more sessions of chemotherapy and radiotherapy to try and limit the spread of her cancer while she waited for officials to give the go ahead for the surgery.

But the treatment has damaged her kidneys and last week doctors delivered the news that the former care worker is now no longer well enough to undergo the transplant.

"I'm devastated," Miss Cousins said.

"I should have had the transplant in March or April, but because of the hassle and all the waiting I've had to have more treatment and that's ended up damaging my kidneys.

"Now the doctors have said I'll have to carry on having radiotherapy. They're giving me a rest over Christmas to be with the family and then I will have radiotherapy again in January and we'll have to see how the kidneys get on,

"I've just got to wait and see if they clear on their own. I've worked all my life and paid my taxes, but when I needed the NHS the most they abandoned me.

"The doctors have said that I can't go on having chemotherapy to treat the cancer, I will die if I don't get a bone marrow transplant. It was all down to money. It is so upsetting that a bureaucrat can decide whether people live or die."

Miss Cousins, who lives with her partner, Simon Jones, 41, a fireman, first fell ill in July 2005 when she discovered two lumps under her right arm and neck.

After a series of tests doctors said she was suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma - a blood cancer which is prevalent in younger people.

She underwent two gruelling sessions of chemotherapy, before being referred to Christie's Hospital - the specialist cancer centre in Manchester - for a stem-cell transplant, followed by radiotherapy.

Initially, doctors believed the stem-cell transplant had been successful, but shortly before Christmas last year Miss Cousins discovered another lump close to her chin.

Once again, doctors decided to give Miss Cousins chemotherapy and, although it appeared to be helping her fight the disease, decided a bone marrow transplant was her only hope of a cure.

Her consultant wrote to the Health Commission in Wales (HCW) requesting they fund the expensive operation, but was staggered when they refused to pay for her life-saving treatment.

They claimed that, following an evaluation of Miss Cousins' case, she did not meet their criteria for a transplant. They said that only in 'exceptional circumstances' were transplants offered to Hodgkin's lymphoma patients but refused to elaborate on exactly what those criteria or exceptional circumstances were.

Only when Welsh health minister Edwina Hart intervened and requested an urgent review of Miss Cousins' case did the HCW finally agree to overturn the decision in September.

Last night Mr Jones, 41, said he was furious with the HCW for the delay which could cost his partner her life.

"You couldn't print what I think," he said.

"I would just like the guys at Health Commission Wales to have the bottle to come and talk to me.

"There's no way we can prove it but we're convinced the delay has put us in this position."

Last night a spokesman for the HCW said he could not comment on Miss Cousins' case.

However, he added: "HCW has an individual commissioning patient panel where clinical advice in complex cases is considered. Exceptional circumstances have to be defined in relation to the individual patient and the treatment required."