Hello. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

I remember studying trepanning in history classes at school and thinking why the hell would anybody let someone drill into their head. Then last November, standing on Finsbury Park tube platform, I discovered why. I was with my oldest friend who was chatting away when a small headache very quickly developed into a massive one and all I wanted was to sit down and ask him to drill a hole in my head and let the pressure out.

I went to A&E and explained to the doctor that I don't normally get ill and that this felt serious. Thankfully she believed me and got the staff to open the CT scanner (it was a Sunday) and I was invited to jump in. After waiting for what seemed like hours she called me in and asked if they could do it again, this time with dye injected into my arm to show contrast in the scan better. That's when I knew I was in trouble.

The results came back and sure enough the scan of my brain showed one of the ventricles was an amorphous blob submerged in fluid (they usually look like two tidy letter 'C's sitting back to back). That's when your palms go sweaty and you start to feel cold. I remember thinking how curious it was that she was telling me my brain was broken and here I was using my brain to understand and communicate and how it was a funny little loop. 

I had a colloid cyst in the third ventricle - something that happens to two or three in a million people each year and is congenital - you're just born with it.

The doctor rang around the various hospitals trying to find a place for me. She was just telling me to go home and wait for a call when the phone rang and she was told that if I came immediately I would be admitted to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. What else could I do? I went straight there...

Fast forward a year and five(!) brain procedures and here I am, fully recovered (I think) and taking on a marathon to repay some of the debt. I owe the hospital, the people in it and the NHS more than I could ever repay but this feels like a good start...

The National Brain Appeal raises funds for The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square – one of the world’s leading centres for the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients with neurological and neuromuscular conditions. These include stroke, multiple sclerosis (MS), brain cancer, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and Prion disease.

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