A hard-hitting front page story in a regional Sunday newspaper forced health bosses into a U-turn over their refusal to supply life-saving treatment to a cystic fibrosis sufferer.

Birmingham’s Sunday Mercury featured the case of 29-year-old shop worker Caroline Cassin who was initially denied the ‘wonder drug’ which could save her life.

Deputy chief sub-editor Matt Smith created a dramatic front page featuring a photograph of Caroline gasping for breath on her hospital bed, under the headline ‘Left To Die’.

Reporter Mike Lockley told Caroline’s heart-breaking story in a two-page feature inside, while executive editor Paul Cole weighed in with an editorial comment piece which called on the local NHS Trust to change its mind.

Bosses at Heartland Hospital had initially ruled that although Caroline could benefit from a new £182,000 a year drug, it would be wrong to offer her a free trial on “ethical grounds.”

They said it would be wrong to give her the hope offered by the drug, Kalydeco – rebranded Ivacaftor for the UK – then have to withdraw treatment on cost grounds once the trial period ran out.

But within 24 hours of the Mercury hitting the streets, the Trust did a U-turn after discussions with the manufacturers, allowing free treatment to be offered indefinitely. The decision is expected to benefit other patients, too.

The Mercury’s story was picked up by news media around the world, including TV stations in the USA, where the pharmaceutical giant is based.

Campaigners thanked the Trinity Mirror owed title for galvanising public support and Caroline’s family told the paper:  “This would not have happened without you.”

Jubilant Jessica Nickless, head of the Ivacaftor Patients Interest Group, said: “This is truly amazing news. Everyone is in tears. I cannot thank the Sunday Mercury enough.”

Journalist Mike Lockley, who had also reported on the Kalydeco issue in the Mercury’s sister newspaper Birmingham Mail, landed the interview with Caroline’s parents and campaigners as a Sunday Mercury exclusive.

Mike joined the Mercury last year after the closure of the Chase Post, which he had previously edited for 25 years.

Paul Cole said: “Mike did exceptionally well with the story. This is an example of the good that regional newspapers can do within the communities they serve. Newspapers have been getting a bad press of late with the allegations considered by the Leveson Inquiry.

“The Sunday Mercury may have helped save a young woman’s life here. You can’t ask for better than that.”