MORE North-East patients will get the chance to try out new cancer drugs after a £1m charity donation which has left doctors stunned.

The donation, which came from a single mystery benefactor, will help transform the Northern Centre for Cancer Treatment at Newcastle General Hospital.

It will enable doctors to set up a 12-strong clinical research unit which will allow more North-East patients to take part in national and international cancer drug trials.

More than 5,000 new cancer patients are referred to the unit for treatment every year.

The cash was handed over by members of the Community Foundation, a North-East charity which runs 80 charitable funds all over the region.

Dr Charles Kelly, consultant clinical oncologist at the Northern Centre for Cancer Treatment (NCCT), said he and his colleagues were taken aback at the scale of the donation.

"We think this is going to take clinical research up to another level in Newcastle and the North-East in general.

"It means we will be able to offer patients access to national and international cancer drug trials," he said.

While Newcastle already has a world-renowned cancer drug research centre the NCCT currently does not have the staff or equipment to take part in major trials of new drugs on patients. The donation will change all that.

Martin Neal, of Redcar, whose six-year-old daughter, Katie, died of cancer in May last year, despite the best efforts of the NCCT, said he was "amazed" at the scale of the donation.

"We set up a fund in memory of Katie and every penny counts when you are raising money to help children fight cancer. To have someone give a million pounds is absolutely fantastic," said Mr Neal.

He hopes that more investment in cancer research will give other children a better chance