WHEN Clive Stone carries the Olympic torch aloft through the streets of Woodstock, his mind will not be on the crowds who line the streets.

Instead the determined cancer campaigner will be thinking of the many people who have fought alongside him for fairer access to life extending treatments, and for those he has lost along the way.

Mr Stone, who received an MBE for his services to health after being nominated by Prime Minister David Cameron, last night revealed he had been recently chosen to take the flame though Woodstock on Monday.

The 64-year-old, from Eynsham, near Witney, said: “It’s obviously a fantastic thing to be able to do.

“But I’m not doing it for myself.

“I’m running for all of the other people who have helped and those we have lost on the way.”

Mr Stone, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2007, has fought tirelessly since his diagnoses to make life better for cancer patients.

He battled successfully to make the kidney cancer drug Sunitinib available on the NHS and has been credited with persuading the Government to allocate £200m to an emergency drug fund for cancer patients.

Mr Stone is also a key member of the Kidney Cancer Support Network, KCSN, a group which has fought the procedures of the Government’s health watchdog the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).

Four years ago he also launched campaign group Justice for Kidney Cancer patients.

Mr Stone’s wife Jan died last year after she lost her battle with breast cancer. She was 61.

He has also just undergone his own life extending treatment to have a series of brain tumours removed.

Mr Stone said: “Jan would have been very proud.

“But really, we’re both very private people. We didn’t like a fuss.

“I haven’t done all this for me.

“I have done this for everyone else. “ Mr Stone was originally put forward for the honour by the James Whale Kidney Fund but didn’t make the cut. Mr Stone said he did not know who had now put him forward again.

He joins other high-profile torchbearers who will be lighting up the county, such as former Olympic gymnast Suzanne Dando.

There are also rumours that Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton could be carrying the flame on Monday due to the route’s relevant proximity to the Silverstone race track.

The Oxford Mail will have reporters and photographers covering every metre of the Olympic Torch’s relay through the county next week, both online and in print.

Log on to oxfordmail.co.uk for stories, pictures, a map of the torch’s progress and live blog from our staff on the ground on Monday and Tuesday, follow us on twitter on @theoxfordmail and buy Tuesday and Wednesday’s editions for unrivalled coverage.

Wednesday’s Oxford Mail will also include a free supplement of this historic event.