Three women, dubbed The Velcade Three after their fight for access to a life-prolonging drug gained national publicity, have donated £25,000 to charities close to their hearts.

The donation marks the end of a four-year campaign by Janice Wrigglesworth, of Cowling, and Jacky Pickles and Marie Morton, of Keighley. All suffer from multiple myeloma, an incurable and debilitating cancer of the plasma cells in the bone marrow which are responsible for protecting against viruses and infection.

The friends hit the headlines after drugs guidance body The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) refused to fund the drug, Velcade, for myeloma patients. The drug was the first to be developed in over a decade and had proved successful in UK clinical trials and was in use in America.

They claimed that, without the potentially life-extending drug, they would be sentenced to death and, despite their illness, they launched a campaign to get the decision reversed. The trio pledged to take their fight to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary and an appeal was launched to fund legal costs.

However, NICE eventually changed its decision and, on Friday, the three women handed over the money to three charities, with £18,000 going to Myeloma UK, £5,000 to the Haematology and Oncology Day Unit at Airedale General Hospital and £2,000 to Manorlands, the Sue Ryder hospice at Oxenhope.

Eric Low, chief executive of Myeloma UK, said: “Congratulations to the Velcade Three for their amazing efforts over the last few years, and a big thank-you to them for kindly donating £18,000 to Myeloma UK.”

In a statement, the Velcade Three said: “On hearing NICE was refusing to fund the treatment we decided we had no option but to go down the legal route and so began our campaign to enable us to, if necessary, take legal action to help all myeloma sufferers access Velcade.

“Along with Myeloma UK and other charities, we feel we have been successful in having Velcade put into the medical field for multiple myeloma patients.

“We would like to say a big thank-you to everyone who helped in our campaign to enable Velcade to be made available to all multiple myeloma patients who need it.

We believe it’s no longer necessary for us to continue because we achieved what we set out to do, and we’re delighted our work is also going to mean three worthwhile organisations will benefit from the money we have raised.”