Can anybody help me please. Got a case with a lady who is terminally ill with above cancer which has spread throughout her body (bladder, sigmoid colon, parametrium, vagina, lymph nodes, liver, spleen, lung ......). She has 2 ongoing DLA appeals. She won't be able to attend a hearing and I am desperately trying to find some evidence of how this sort of illness progresses. As at July 09 cancer was at least stage IVa grade 2 squamous cell carcinoma of cervix - I would like to be able to show what effects would be likely to have been 12-18 months earlier. No medical evidence at that time and cancer only diagnosed recently.
Can anyone help or point me at a website?

Try MacMillan Cancer Support, they should be able to advise you.

There is provision to arrange a domiciliary hearing if your client can't get out.

However, I'm slightly puzzled. You say your cl is terminally ill. Has a DS1500 been issued? What exactly is she appealing against?

Also, you have a terminally ill person with widespread cancer who has been ill for 12-18 months, yet cancer has only just been diagnosed. What have her doctors been doing for the last year?

agree with ruth

"Also, you have a terminally ill person with widespread cancer who has been ill for 12-18 months, yet cancer has only just been diagnosed. What have her doctors been doing for the last year?"

but would also say ... my cousin recently died of an aggressive ovarian cancer, the symptoms of which had been well hidden by coincidental gall bladder problems. so it's not always the doctors getting it wrong...

Thanks Paul - should have thought of that.
No way a domiciliary hearing would work. Her home is unsuitable and she is dosed up on Morphine............and to be brutally frank she may not live that long.
She has been awarded on special rules, but was refused HR mob on 2 previous claims. Suffers from Arthritis but didn't get on with her GP and just accepted the pain as part of her life. Being refused DLA helped to push her into engaging with the medical profession and finally receiving this diagnosis. Winning this appeal(s) is the last thing I can do for her and will help her go in peace.

You could use the medical evidence concerning her cancer to back up her account of how she was affected during that earlier period and argue that on the bal of probs her subsequent diagnosis showed that the symptoms she was describing, although contemporaneously unexplained, evidently were accounted for once the diagnosis was made. Any Hospital or G.P. reports or notes etc. concerning symptoms that were reported before the diagnosis may well be useful too. Presumably her forms and any subsequent letters including the appeal letter contain an outline of how she was affected by her earlier symptoms. If she was on I.B. etc., you could request a copy of all the evidence on that file since she first claimed it, and see if any of that helps.

We had the tribunal last week. Just received decision - failed. Obviously client did not attend. Unfortunately her oncologist was unable to give an opinion on how quickly the cancer had spread. She had other conditions for which we had supporting evidence. Decision hinged on the fact that she went to the shop, which was 250 yards away, most days. This took 30-45 minutes each way because of pain. She is socially isolated and going to the shop is her only way of seeing other people. She also has a grand son who has been kicked out by his parents and chooses to stay at her home against her wishes. He bullies her and steals from her. Basically the panel did not think that anyone would put themselves through severe discomfort 1) to relieve isolation and loneliness, and 2) to escape the abuse her grand son inflicts on her.
Really want to appeal this, and quickly as she has limited time left. Can anyone recommend CD?

I don't know of a decision that is sufficiently closely related on the possible facts of the case, and I would suspect that you would have to look at the statement of reasons to see if you can sustain an argument that the tribunal made perverse or irrational findings on a matter or matters that were material to the outcome (decision R(DLA) 3/08 at paragraph 8 identifies the most common points of law, following the adoption in R(I) 2/06 of the summary and observations of Brooke LJ in R(Iran) v S of State for the Home Dept). I always keep a copy of that part of the decision in view when considering appealing to the Upper Tribunal, as it does help to focus the mind.However, and without seeing the evidence, I could well imagine that leave could be refused at either stage (or both) because the judge considers that it was a finding the tribunal was entitled to reach.