I am presently awaiting the results of yet more scans to monitor progress which can be a stressful time when I always need to ask my friends for supportive prayer.

I still spend one day a week at Sobell House Hospice Day Centre, taking part in various therapies which are improving my mobility, and helping me maintain a positive outlook, not to mention the welcome lunch.

People with a life-threatening illness need places such as this, to just chat, relax, and enjoy a change of surroundings with new-found friends.

You can remain independent and live at home, and we are always able to discuss any concerns with a member of staff.

This would be a good model to free up expensive lengthy hospital stays and save the NHS money whilst patients carry on living at home.

Last week I was honoured to attend a dinner in Sheffield to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their Gamma Knife (GK) centre.

I was asked to say a few words after dinner about campaigning for access to my chemotherapy drug Sutent from NICE in 2008, and other ongoing campaigns for more funding for radiotherapy/radiosurgery (RT) such as GK.

As a result David Cameron, our PM, has since launched the Cancer Drugs Fund which has now given more than 70,000 cancer patients extra time.

RT has also since received well deserved funds which are critical if we are to utilise new advanced systems.

I was able to thank the teams for their contribution to my wellbeing, and for making such a positive difference in my own survival.

I owe them all so much, as GK treatment has given me another five years of quality life.

I have been able to spend this time with my family and lovely young granddaughter, who I did not expect to see, and now she is a toddler.

I realise that I am very fortunate after having had 36 of my 39 brain tumours successfully treated at Sheffield with GK, and my wish now is that NHS England begins to pull out the stops and enables such treatment to become more readily and easily accessible for all appropriate patients free at point of delivery as promised.

I was invited to join these senior clinicians the next day in the university lecture rooms, when I was able to learn about some of the latest methods of treating tumours.

Already, upgrades to the GK machine are being made to deliver the latest generation of stereotactic radiosurgery system to the brain, Leksell Gamma Knife Icon.

Cyberknife is another successful proven non-invasive technology method to treat tumours in other parts of the body assisted by robotics.

However, access to all these technologies on the NHS is not automatic, which doesn’t make sense, especially given the progress made in this field.

A lot is happening in such advanced treatment technologies with greater possibilities of eventual cures compared to that from chemotherapy, and yet cancer drugs involve much higher long-term budgets.

As I am writing this I have just read an announcement that the Independent Cancer Taskforce, chaired by Harpal Kumar, who is also chairman of Cancer Research UK, has just reported that they expect to save 30,000 more lives a year by overhauling cancer commissioning and treatment funding.

Six strategic priorities have been identified because cancer cases are rising with one in two of us expected to have cancer at some point.

They will first concentrate on “lifestyle” where tobacco is the biggest killer. Other factors include high alcohol consumption, and obesity.

Investments will be made in updating and replacing Linac machines as radiosurgery/radiotherapy is second to surgery for treatment options.

It also calls for a sustainable and permanent model for the Cancer Drugs Fund, and all cancer patients will be given an electronic copy of test results.

This is a five-year plan and it will be far too late for many.

Cancer charities will need to closely monitor this to ensure it progresses properly.

I do hope that cancer patients will benefit from this and it is not abandoned.