Essex cancer patient hit with 'nightmare' £600 travel bill calls for more government support

Dan Berry estimates he spent around £600 on fuel and parking costs over the course of his treatment, Vic Lampard reports

A cancer patient who spent hundreds of pounds on hospital parking has called on the government to do more to help out with travel costs.

Dan Berry, 25, was diagnosed with hodgkin's lymphoma two years ago after experiencing night sweats and finding a lump.

Following his diagnosis, he had to regularly make the 40-mile round trip to Southend Hospital from his home in Chelmsford, Essex.

As well as the physical toll of going through 28 rounds of radiotherapy, Mr Berry estimates he spent around £600 on fuel and parking costs over the course of his treatment.

"It was a nightmare to be honest," he told ITV News Anglia.

"Before the diagnosis you didn't think that about any of these things, you just thought about getting better - but on top of that, you had all the stress of trying to find the extra money. I was relying on my partner and family for help which didn't feel great to be honest."

Mr Berry said he was only receiving £90 a week statutory sick pay, leaving him out of pocket.

He has since been given the news that he is in remission and is now teaming up with the charity Young Lives vs Cancer to call on the government to set up a travel fund. 

The charity's petition already has more than 10,000 signatures and plans are in place to deliver it to Downing Street in the coming weeks.

Sonia Malik, from Young Lives vs Cancer, said: "There are enormous emotional and financial costs of having a child or a young person with cancer and this is just the last thing that families need to deal with when they're stressed, when they're dealing with the worst and then they have to find the extra money to get to treatment."

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