A FATHER-OF-TWO and major with Derbyshire's cadet force, Bernard Dean had been leading an active and busy life when he was suddenly told that he could expect to die within 18 months.

Forty-five years after being exposed to asbestos as an apprentice joiner, he had developed cancer.

This devastating blow left him in tears every morning for weeks after his diagnosis and yet he found the inner strength to hold on to a nugget of hope. Refusing to give up, he told his doctor that he would do anything to try to extend his life.

First he asked about having part of his lung removed, but was told it would make him too weak and ruin his quality of life. Then he volunteered to take part in a clinical trial and was surprised to get a positive response. His doctor agreed to refer him to cancer specialist Anne Thomas, who runs a variety of clinical trials in Leicester.

It may have been the best move he could have made.

Because now, he is hoping that he could have months or even years added to his life.

The 61-year-old, of Stevens Road, Sandiacre, said despite his wife, Sue, being apprehensive he was willing to try anything: "I just feel so positive and I couldn't wait to try the drug. There was something inside me telling me to get on it."

Cancer specialist Dr Anne Thomas, who is running the Leicester arm of the trial, cautioned against raising expectations about the drug before the results were in but admitted it was "exciting".

She said the way the drug worked was "almost unique" as it was one of only two of its kind, with the other being developed simultaneously by a competing pharmaceutical company.

She said: "Chemotherapy targets both normal cells and tumour cells but this drug targets the proteins on the surface of cancer cells so hopefully it will be more effective and have fewer side effects.

"The protein that it targets tells the cancer cells to grow, spread and divide. So the drug aims to turn off the 'on switch' for cancer cells."

Novatis Pharmaceuticals is running the trial at about five sites in the USA and Europe, including Leicester.

The trial is in its first phase, which means that the drug has previously been tested in laboratories but never before on humans. About 40 people worldwide will take part in this first phase, with between 15 and 18 with various forms of cancer having done so at present.

Mr Dean is the only mesothelioma patient in the trial.

He was chosen after desperation prompted him to tell medics that he was willing to participate in any available clinical trials which could help him.

Now he is taking eight tablets a day and suffering no noticeable side effects.

He said: "I've got three tumours on my lungs, a small one and two large ones, and if I have a scan at the end of this month and I'm told that they haven't grown, I'll pop a cork."

There have been hundreds of deaths in Derbyshire in the past 30 years as a result of mesothelioma, which in nine out of 10 cases is caused by breathing in tiny asbestos fibres which become lodged in the lungs. In Mr Dean's case, he became exposed when he used to cut up asbestos while working as an apprentice joiner in Nottingham.

He was diagnosed in January last year.

He said: "For the first five or six weeks I woke up in the morning crying and thinking 'why me?'

"I could easily have looked at life and thought that I had 18 months left and then that's me dead.

"But I'll live as long as I can with these tumours inside me."

Dr Thomas said a number of checks and balances were in place to ensure the safety of patients.

She said: "We only treat one person at a time and we monitor them really carefully and closely."

The drug must then go through a number of other stages of testing and licensing before being available on the NHS.

Dr Thomas said this process was likely to take five years or more.

News of the trial has also been greeted with enthusiasm by mesothelioma patient Stephen Ward, 48, of Repton.

He said: "You hear about the more common cancers but you rarely hear anything about this condition.

"So it's certainly encouraging to know that there is a trial going on – to hear that makes my ears stand up.

"If it can delay the spread of the cancer and give people extra life then wonderful."

In a meeting brokered by the Derby Telegraph, Mr Dean spoke to Gordon Brown in Nottingham last year about improving compensation for people with asbestos-related diseases. Last Wednesday, the Government announced plans to do so.