Barbara Clark, the nurse with breast cancer who won her battle to get a powerful, lifesaving drug on the NHS, is set to donate £25,000 to help more than 10 other women in a similar position.

Ms Clark, 49, raised the money through charity events so she could buy Herceptin privately after it was refused by her primary care trust (PCT). Driven by 'sheer desperation' and the desire to live another 10 years to look after her chronically ill son, she threatened to take her case to the High Court.

Last week Ms Clark's trust caved in and promised she would receive Herceptin on the NHS due to her exceptional circumstances. Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, said it would be made available to women who needed it, but most will still have to wait until July 2006 for the drug to be licensed.

That spurred on Ms Clark, of Bridgwater in Somerset, to give the money she raised to those who will need treatment earlier.

'Everything is going right for me but I am not giving up the fight for anyone else,' she said. 'Waiting until July is not good enough. I have got an extremely ill child and it is tough, but that does not mean that people without children have any greater or less right to life than me. I am using my money to part fund a number of other women to tide them over until July.'

Ms Clark saw Gill Sage, 43, being interviewed on TV and found she was preparing to sell her house to fund treatment. She rang Ms Sage from nearby Cheddar on Thursday to offer cash.

'It is fantastic that she would be prepared to help out,' said Ms Sage. 'I am incredibly pleased and it may make the difference of not having to sell my house.'

However Ms Sage, who is not a mother, said that trusts should not choose who gets lifesaving treatment in this way. 'A life is a life and every one is critical no matter what the personal circumstances and if a drug can halve the chance of cancer coming back it should be available to everyone.'

Herceptin is currently only licensed for use in the advanced stages of breast cancer, when the tumour has recurred. However, recent trials show it to be highly effective in women newly diagnosed - halving the chance of the cancer returning.

One in four women with breast cancer has the HER2 form of the disease that makes them suitable for Herceptin. Hewitt announced that all those newly diagnosed would be tested to see if the drug would help.

Those not yet diagnosed would need surgery and chemotherapy before taking the drug so the delay would not affect them. The problem arises for women who have been diagnosed and need to start treatment before next summer.

Dot Griffiths, of the group Women Fighting for Herceptin, said Hewitt should 'hang her head in shame'. There was no point promising to test if Herceptin would be useful, only to say it was not available. Ms Griffiths, whose cancer has recurred, said: 'Barbara should have got the medicine because she needs it. I am appalled the PCT said it was because of her son.'