Retired couple may have to sell their home to save their sight

Lawrence and Joan O'Brien need to find £300 a month for sight-saving injections not widely available on the Health Service.

Both suffer from the same condition - wet age-related macular degeneration.

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It is the most common cause of sight loss and can leave sufferers blind in three months.

Mrs O'Brien, 70, was diagnosed with the disease in both eyes two years ago and has already spent more than £6,000 on private care.

Doctors recently picked up the same condition in one of her husband's eyes.

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Every eight weeks they pay £600 for injections that are free to patients in Scotland and across Europe.

The Mail reported on Saturday that English taxpayers will have to pick up the £50million bill for Scots to have free prescriptions.

The O'Briens say that with their savings running out they face having to put their home on the market.

"I'd rather die than go blind," said Mrs O'Brien. "I can't think of anything worse. It's unbelievable that people in Scotland can now get the treatment and we can't.

"We are both healthy people and have paid our National Insurance all our lives.

"We only have one good eye between us now and the one time we need help we can't get it because we live in the wrong country."

They are treated with Avastin, which is cheaper than other antiblindness drugs such as Macugen and Lucentis.

Most health trusts refuse to fund such treatment without approval from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence, the official drugs rationing body.

Last week it recommended that Lucentis be used only if patients have gone almost blind in one eye and the disease is far progressed in the other.

NICE's other proposed restrictions would leave an estimated 20,000 patients either to go blind or pay for private care.

The O'Briens, from Rownhams, near Southampton, have appealed to their local health trust for free treatment and their case is being considered.

However, Mr O'Brien, 74, said: "With this you go blind in three months so you have no choice but to go private."