Woman refused a disabled rail card had to pay £2,500 in fares for treatment in London

A woman with a brain tumour had to spend nearly £2,500 to travel to London for treatment because radiotherapy was not available in her area.

Sarah Farmer, who lives in Castle Gresley, Derbyshire, made the seven-hour round trip to the Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea every day for six weeks.

She was diagnosed with the illness in October 2009 but her tumour was too close to the pituitary gland to be operated on.

Ms Farmer was told she needed an intensive course of radiotherapy but that it was not available in her local area.

"I naively thought help would be readily available if I had a brain tumour, but I was wrong," she said. "I applied for a temporary disabled person's rail card and my doctor even wrote a letter on my behalf explaining the situation, but they said I was not disabled."

She had to pay the £80 train fare to get her to and from London.

Ms Farmer said the desperate lack of facilities on offer for people in her condition needed to be highlighted. She is now organising a Brain Tumour Awareness Ball in aid of Brain Tumour UK.