14th July 2020, the day my family's life changed forever. I sat down on the sofa and dozed off, or so I thought. Next thing I know I can hear Meagz talking but I can't respond...after a few minutes I'm back to normal. Off I went to the hospital for a suspected mini stroke. I was sent home with a 'migraine' for the same thing to happen again. Off in an ambulance again, this time I had a CT scan and sent home at 4am. By 5am I was back in again - this time they took me seriously. 

The next day after an MRI scan Meagz and the kids got called in, we were took in a room and heard the words "it's not good news, you have a brain tumour". Everything fell in to place, the headaches, tiredness, memory loss and changes in personality all symptoms that we had put down to stress, tiredness, working 2 jobs, 70hr weeks. I was now having seizures caused by the the brain tumour.

Even then we naively thought they'd just operate to remove it and that would be the end of it. You hear about people having these things all the time but you never think it will happen to you. And you certainly don't realise the complexity of it all. 

After a biopsy, I was sent home to wait. A week later I was back in to find out what we were dealing with and what the plan was. Nothing can prepare you for the anxiety you feel, the drive, the waiting room, hearing the answers.

It's a low grade diffuse astrocytoma... Low grade that's surely good isn't it. Unfortunately not...its inoperable and will progress its just a matter of when. Treatment will be to stop it for as long as possible. And your whole world comes crashing down around you. "Prepare for the worst hope for the best they say" but it's impossible. Nothing can prepare you for hearing that. 

So that's my story and here I am, staying positive and fighting this with absolutely everything I've got! I'm not going anywhere! 

I'd like to raise as much money as possible for the Brain Tumour Charity to help fund vital research. The below statistics are absolutely shocking! So I'm starting by organising a group of us to complete Tough Mudder 2021. We'd really appreciate any donation you can give no matter how small to help give people like me hope. 

The statistics

Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40

Almost 11,700 people are diagnosed each year with a primary brain tumour, including 500 children and young people – that's 32 people every day

Over 5,000 people lose their lives to a brain tumour each year

At least 102,000 children and adults are estimated to be living with a brain tumour in the UK currently

Brain tumours reduce life expectancy by on average 20 years – the highest of any cancer

Just 11% of adults survive for five years after diagnosis

Brain tumours are the largest cause of preventable or treatable blindness in children

Research offers the only real hope of dramatic improvements in the management and treatment of brain tumours. Over £500m is spent on cancer research in the UK every year, yet less than 3% is spent on brain tumours