A chef has won his three-year fight to be treated with a drug that could save him from going blind.
Adrian Patrick, 31, has been told he can be treated with Infliximab after the matter was raised in the House of Commons by his MP Norman Baker.
Mr Patrick, of Church Hill, Newhaven, is slowly going blind with Bilateral Intermediate Uveitus, which causes the jelly between the eyeball and retina to disconnect.
He can see little out of his right eye and the sight in his left eye is gradually getting worse.
Consultants at Moorfields Eye Hospital wanted him to be treated with the drug but the hospital's management at first refused to sanction the use of National Health Service money to pay for a treatment of injections, which cost around £2,500 each.
Health care trusts in Sussex and London refused to help him on eight separate occasions.
They initially said there was no evidence the expensive treatment would help his deteriorating sight.
But now, following further tests and a Commons debate, Mr Patrick has been phoned by his consultant at Moorfields to say he can have the injections and treatment will commence at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London.
Adrian said: "It seems that at long last I have won my fight.
"This has taken three years and a lot of time.
"They rejected giving me the treatment on financial and medical grounds but now I have been told by Moorfields following tests on January 19 that I can have definitely have the injections, which will be administered at St Barts."
When Mr Patrick's plight was raised in the Commons, health minister Stephen Ladyman said he could not intervene but urged Mr Baker to seek any new medical evidence which would help his constituent.
Mr Baker said "I am delighted at the result, although angry that it needed a debate in the Commons to secure the help he had a right to expect.
"I hope the treatment will now begin without further delay and that it is successful in retaining Mr Patrick's sight."
A spokesman for Moorfields said the hospital authorities could not comment on grounds of patient confidentiality.
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