Last week, Rushden man Brad Tompkins underwent an MRI scan at University College Hospital in London to determine if he would benefit from breakthrough laser therapy to treat his mouth cancer.

He was delighted to learn on Thursday that he is suitable for the treatment, leaving him ‘over-the-moon’.

The 48-year-old said: “They’ve accepted my treatment and I will be going in either this week or next week, and it’s absolutely brilliant news.

“If I had chosen to go down the chemotherapy and surgery route I was facing the prospect of losing my voice-box and my throat glands and I could not have lived without being able to communicate with other people – what is important is my quality of life, however long that might be.

“Hopefully within three weeks I will be back to normal, and even if the treatment only holds the cancer off for, say, a couple of years, that’s two years more than I was expecting.

“It’s an immeasurable feeling of relief and I’m over the moon.”

Mr Tompkins was diagnosed with cancer in April and found out about photodynamic therapy (PDT) as an alternative to chemotherapy and radiotherapy through a newspaper cutting a few weeks ago.

The laser therapy was pioneered by Colin Hopper, an expert based at the London hospital, who will be working with Mr Tompkins. It uses lasers or similar light sources, combined with a light-sensitive drug to destroy cancer cells.

The question of funding the treatment is still to be decided, but Mr Hopper said he was expecting to start the procedure within the next few weeks.

Mr Hopper said: “We are making a commitment that we will treat Mr Tompkins so he will get the light-surgery.

“We are in negotiations with Northamptonshire PCT with the intention of recovering the cost of the treatment, but we do intend to give him the treatment he needs.”

A spokesman for Northamptonshire PCT said: “We have not received a report yet from Mr Tompkins' consultant or an application for funding.

“If we receive a report from his consultant recommending that we fund it and if there is clear evidence that photodynamic therapy is the most appropriate course of treatment for Mr Tompkins, then we will be very pleased to consider it.”