Has anyone self-funded Avastin and is there any benefit in doing so? Mum will finish her Avastin in August, I am going to email her McMillian nurse and ask for advise too - however I wanted to know if anyone has had it for more than a year and why they did and if it helps keep the cancer away?
Mum is stage 4 but with no evidence of disease currently. 
Hello Be-Positive,
I didn't self fund as my insurance company was ok to pay for the 12 doses I had in combination with a dose-dense regime of carboplatin + taxol. The nurse said Avastin cost about £2,000 per infusion, making mine a total of £24,000. In comparison, if I recall correctly, she said Carboplatin was about £500 per infusion and Taxol about £800. But now well over 2 years ago since this conversation so my memory may not be accurate.
Certainly, asking Macmillan sounds a good idea. My only other thought is the Ovacome helpline?
Lesley
I stayed on avastin after second line chemo for18 months, but the cancer then started to progress while I was still on it so it was stopped. I didn't pay. They tried to stop it after a year but I argued with them and read the CDF guidelines, which were unclear, so they let me continue. Those then changed and I haven't seen the new version. I have no idea if it helped at all, and I am now on 3rd line chemo. I stopped avastin in May last year and my CA125 stayed stable for another 6 months and I started 3rd line in November. I am glad I didn't pay for it. If it worked at all it was just for a few months. Do have a go at arguing with the doctors before you go down that route, if you do, and look up the guidelines for your mother's specific stage of treatment.
Hi Lesley, hope you are well. Looks like mums cancer has returned whilst on avastin too. Mum was given all clear in September but now it's showing a mass in her pelvis and spots on her liver. We are waiting for next steps.. Such a shame the avastin stops working, I heard that a few times. Hope your keeping well and fighting as usual xxx
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