Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story. 

So here goes...….

September 2017. My wife of only two months awoke in the middle of the night and had a seizure. A very scary experience, not half as scary as waiting for the reasons why.

Shortly after, we were given the worst possible news.........the cause of the seizure was a brain tumour. Devastating. Anyone that has been through this or has close family or friends that have been through this, know it completely turns your world upside down. Just like that.

Carly had surgery in January this year. An awake craniotomy which lasted nearly 14 hours and only stopped after some complications. The surgery obviously came with the most serious of risks. However, we knew we were in good hands with the team performing this surgery at Southmead hospital, Bristol. The team included surgeons, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, anaesthetists, along with nurses and assistants throughout the whole 14 hours!!! Absolutely remarkable people who are in it purely to help your loved ones. THE NHS ARE FANTASTIC.

Carly had several pre op tests so they knew how she communicated, thought pattern/process, problem solving etc etc. Absolutely incredible attention to detail which allow them to push surgery to the absolute maximum assessing the risk for permanent damage to the patient. They removed as much as they could and Carly's complications were down to some brain tracts being severed, resulting in loss of speech and movement in one arm. We had a new worry that almost made us forget the main problem…...will she recover from these complications??????

The consultant told us she would make a near full recovery that would probably take about a year. Knowing Carly, I had a good sense she wouldn't accept this!! Within weeks she almost seemed back to her normal self. The first smile i'd raised in a while. We'd have homework to do working on speech and Carly worked so hard and made ridiculous improvements over such a short period. 

You have post surgery tests for mental problem solving and brain function to see how you're recovering and judge problems you may have longer term, or what needs a lot of work on. These are done 12 weeks post op but Carly had been accidently been booked in after 5 weeks. She thought she'd give it a go anyway. There's that positivity and determination again. She passed with flying colours and actually beat her original test results which they'd never seen before. I was so proud and happy for her. A truly incredible, strong and determined individual. Carly is now back to work full time and has been for months.

The recent investment into Brain Tumour research has seen an incredible improvement over the last few years towards diagnosis, treatment, recovery and quality of life. It lagged behind a lot of tumour treatment mainly due to the funding being focused on others areas of the body. Like most tumours in the human body, Brain tumours are on the increase. Us like so many others are relying on investment into research to help in any way possible.

It's a daily mental battle and one of the cruellest things to happen to a persons life as it's generally down to 'bad luck'...…………..BAD LUCK!! Some days you feel like you're just keeping your head above water. I can't comprehend the thoughts going through Carly's mind on a daily basis along with anyone dealing with similar diagnosis. Brave brave people. What makes this slightly less difficult to deal with is that I get to see first hand how positive and determined my wife has been through this and continues to be everyday. A real true inspiration to me and I get to wake up next to her everyday!!

Thank you so much if you made it this far!! Apologies for the rambling but hopefully some insight in there somewhere as to where the fundraising ends up and the improvements it helps to make from diagnosis through to recovery post treatment. The more investment, the more research into helping people through these tough situations. Hopefully one day, finding a cure. It would mean a great deal to us if you could spare any money for a donation, no matter how small. Everything will help.

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