HOW sad to read of Ted Mackney’s fight with Hodgkins lymphoma since autumn 2015 (Echo Lifestyle, March 13). How even sadder to read that treatment has stopped.

The drug Nivolumab was quoted at £4,000 per dose and he wasn’t eligible for it on the NHS. Treatment for a year would be £98,000 per year or equivalent to £8,170 approx per month.

My question to the government is: why are we willing to donate £14 billion to the “Foreign Aid” budget this year, increasing to £15 billion by 2021 and yet abandoning people like Ted Mackney when people like him should not have to rely upon family, friends and strangers to financially help?

This over generous budget should be seriously looked at now and drastically reduced to the very minimum amount.

I feel very strongly that the saying “look after your own first” should come into force.

Pat Sketcher

Isle of Wight