Woody's Story.

 In June 2014 Woody began to suffer from severe headaches, his eyes were soon due for testing so he took a early visit to the optician, who referred him to hospital that day. He attended A&E only to be sent home without examination and was told to return the following day to attend the eye clinic, in which he did, only to be sent straight back to A&E by the ophthalmologist for a CT scan. The CT revealed that he had a mass on the brain. He was admitted to hospital and started on steroids to shrink the mass whilst waiting for a biopsy. After a three week wait he finally underwent the brain biopsy, to which the results came back negative, "100% not cancer" were the doctors words! It was thought that the tumour was caused by a rare disease or disorder of the blood and Woody continued to undergo investigation for lupus and many  other unheard of conditions. All tests were coming back negative, however symptoms of lymphoma  were present despite the negative results, so it was a watch and wait game. Regular scans to monitor the growth of the tumour and blood tests were carried out into 2015, the tumour had remained at bay and Woody had gone back to work and got his driving licence back. Come December 2015 the doctors decided he was still for watch and wait of lymphoma but they did not want to scan or see him again until December 2016,  unless there was any concerns as the tumour was hardly visible.      
 
Towards the end of January 2016 Woody began to experience minor headaches again, but nothing like those of 2014. He went to work on the 3rd of  February  and his manager noticed that he had a facial drop and his speech was slurred so he went to A&E, where a CT scan revealed that the tumour  had re-grown and it was big at 3-5cm! A week later and he was having another biopsy. Woody was diagnosed with Large Diffuse B Cell lymphoma of the central nervous system on the 24th February. Although the diagnosis was somewhat a shock, at least now we had answers and could finally tackle this illness. Woody was strong and kept a brave face, he was adamant that "it will take more than this to bring me down". The plan was start three days of intensive chemotherapy, with a three week break for three months, treatment was to being on the 29th Feb. 
 
He was admitted into hospital as planned on the 29th and received only Rituximab, a antibody in preparation for chemo. The following day 1st March Woody had a fall on the ward and became confused whilst displaying unusual behaviour. This called for another CT scan which showed he had very high intracranial pressure, caused by the large size of the tumour, resulting in Woody suffering a respiratory arrest, he was then admitted into intensive care, comatised. During the two days after the  traumatic event Woody was declared to have no brain function and passed away just three days later on the 4th March at only 44 years old, without even having a chance to battle this nasty disease.



Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer! There is more than over 120 different types of brain tumours and 20% of all cancers spread to the brain…yet just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.This is unacceptable, therefore I am fundraising for Brain Tumour Research as they are the only national charity dedicated to funding long-term, sustainable research in the UK. Please help me fund the fight and raise awareness of the tragic and sudden effect brain tumours can have on individuals and there families. Together we will find a cure