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Back in 2009 my wife Andrea Gordon had suffered a benign brain tumour which was removed successfully, then a year later following an MRI scan, she had a further operation to remove further remnants of the tumour. After 7 years of clinical checks Andrea was finally signed off from her clinic in 2019. 

However in May 2021 Andrea was suffering from acute neck pains and after an MRI scan another tumour or hemangioblastoma, was found but this time the size of an apricot. On 31st May 2021 Andrea was admitted to St. George’s Hospital Tooting and the next day she had a 7 hour operation to remove the tumour. 

Andrea then experienced post op complications and she developed an infection in her brain and subsequently she fell into a coma. After 5 months of being in and out of intensive care, Andrea started to show signs of slow recovery. She was referred to the Royal Hospital for Neurodisability but couldn’t be admitted until March 2022 due to the limited spaces available for the level 1 rehabilitation she needed. In the interim she was admitted to St Peter’s Hospital Chertsey waiting for a space to become available.

Since being admitted to the RHN in March 2022 Andrea has received intensive Physiotherapy, Speech and Language Therapy as well as Occupational Therapy to help in her rehabilitation. Andrea is being fed intravenously through a feeding rig as she hasn’t eaten normally since July 2021. She also hasn’t spoken since July of 2021 due to the tracheostomy that she still has fitted, but we are hopeful these will be removed as she recovers. Her hobby is caring and riding her horse Hanna, but being in a wheelchair has not stopped her determination to get back to enjoying her passion one day. Through adversity Andrea fights on showing her amazing determination and will power to recover and as her husband I am in total awe of her resilience. But this alone is not enough to recover and the treatment that Andrea has received from all of the amazing therapists, nurses and doctors at this remarkable hospital has enabled her to find a pathway towards recovery.

There is still a long way to go in Andrea’s  recovery and there are uncertain times ahead but she has been given this chance by the RHN. The  hospital is a charitable trust that relies largely on donations and this year alone needs £3.5 million  to fully function. So to give something back myself and 16 of my family and friends have signed up to run The Royal Parks Half Marathon in October and we would be honoured if you could donate to such an worthy institution. 

Thank you on behalf of myself, Andrea and my fellow runners. 

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