Mourners for Stephen Dallison were told yesterday there had to be gratitude for what he had achieved for fellow kidney cancer sufferers.

Mr Dallison, 35, fought for sufferers to be given the life-extending kidney cancer drug Sunitinib after he was turned down for it by Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust in October 2007.

But the physicist, who work-ed at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell, appeal-ed against the ruling and three months later the trust rever-sed its decision.

Mr Dallison’s case led to the formation of the Oxfordshire campaign group Justice for Kidney Cancer Patients, which led to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) ordering the PCT to pay for the drug earlier this year.

Clive Stone, who runs the campaign group, and other kidney cancer sufferers, including Andy Crabb from Abingdon, who also won an appeal fight, were among 200 mourners at his funeral yesterday at Corpus Christi Church in Headington.

Ten campaigners gathered to pay their respects to Mr Dallison, who said after being prescribed Sunitinib that the drug gave him a new lease of life.

But last month his condition deteriorated, and he married fiancée Olivia Glover, 27, just hours before he died at the Churchill Hospital on May 23.

Father John Baggley, the priest conducting the service, told the congregation: “Inevit-ably with Stephen’s death there has been tears and sadness but there has also been gratitude for what he achieved, not least the change in the NHS for the provision for those with kidney problems.

“Stephen and others working with him succeeded in changing the policies of the NHS and many others will now benefit.”

In the service to celebrate the life of Mr Dallison, of Iffley Road, Oxford, there were moving tributes from friends and colleagues.

Giles Heaton, who met Mr Dallison when they were nine-year-old schoolboys in Surrey, said he wished he had been giving a best man’s speech, not a funeral tribute.

He said: “He was fun, patient, kind, strong-willed, determined, great fun and the best friend I could wish for in 1,000 lifetimes.

“In 2007, when he told me of his disease, he was so positive about beating it and living the rest of his life to the full.”

Frank Jackson, a friend from Mr Dallison’s time studying particle physics at Manchester University, added: “During the last two years, he had some of the happiest times of his life, even though his illness was terrible.

“He responded with great tenacity and was the first person (in Oxfordshire) to win his appeal against the NHS.

“Steve was shy and modest, yet he was courageous and questioned authority.”

Prof Norman McCubbin, director of particle physics at the Rutherford lab, described his colleague as a quietly determined young man who became a “resolute battler against bureaucracy” to get Sunitinib.

Hymns featured in the service included All Things Bright and Beautiful and The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want.

Before the service, Mr Stone, 61, who lives near Witney, paid tribute to Mr Dallison for inspiring their campaign.

He added: “There is no doubt that Stephen’s life was extended by the drug.”

Following the funeral, a woodlands burial took place at Wolvercote Cemetery, where Mr Dallison’s grave will be marked by a tree instead of a headstone.

affrench@oxfordmail.co.uk