Britain is 'sleepwalking into a cancer crisis', the father of a woman who died after treatments were delayed by Covid-19 has warned.
Craig Russell, whose daughter Kelly died aged 31 from bowel cancer last June, said the new crisis could cost more lives than Coronavirus.
In a moving video to be released by the Labour party today, Mr Russell said Kelly's chemotherapy treatments were stopped after she had to self-isolate.
"As a result of that, she died on 13 June, 12 weeks later," he said.
He went on: "When Kelly was first diagnosed with cancer, the first thing you feel is terror.
"It's the most frightening thing you can hear - especially when it's in a younger person, when it's someone in your family, when it's a child."
He said: "There should be no excuse for people who could be cured to die of cancer when it's avoidable."
Six weeks after treatment for stage four bowel cancer was halted due to the pandemic, the cancer attacked her liver.
Kelly was told she had two to four weeks to live.
The Department for Health and Social care have insisted cancer patients have been a "priority" during the pandemic.
Mr Russell added: "It's about time that we had a significant step change as far as cancer treatments are concerned - investment is made into the NHS to allow them to deal with it more effectively.
"Only then can we actually catch up with cancer."
