I am excited to announce that Sedgley Mountaineering Group will be hosting a charity event “Summit Snowdon For Shaun” for Brain Tumour Support charity appeal on May 5th, 2024.

Shaun’s Story.

I am Shaun a 52 year old from Bilston West Midlands who has been married to my Wife Melinda for 24 years with a 28 year old son and a 20 year old Daughter and 2 beautiful grandchildren which I absolutely adore.

Saturday 9th April 2022 was a normal day where I went into work on overtime. I was my usual jolly, happy self, singing and making jokes with my fellow colleagues. I finished work and had booked the extra days off to spend with my wife as it was a bank holiday and we were dropping our children and partners off to the airport for a holiday abroad.

Early hours of the 10th April I drove my wife’s small car and she drove our other family car and we dropped the kids off at Birmingham airport to start their journey. We drove back what seemed quicker than the initial journey on the motorway and arrived back about 3.50am.

We felt shattered and got straight in to bed around 4am. The rest for me is a blur as my wife at around 4.15am found me having a seizure in bed and called the ambulance. This is where my life changed for ever.

I was rushed into Russell’s Hall hospital and was initially given the diagnosis that I had had a stroke due to the weakness in my right arm and my wife said my face had dropped when I sort of came round from the seizure. It took a while for me to really come round and understand what was going on. My wife and I agreed we would not tell the Children as it was our Daughters first trip abroad without us and would wait till they came home 14 days later.

The Hospital admitted me on to the stroke ward where I was looked after really well. Due to already being a kidney transplant patient I was on a cocktail of medication and they had to crush tablets for me to take them as I had bit my tongue during the seizure.

I was still in hospital on the Wednesday 13th April while my wife was at work trying to sort stuff I had a doctor come and see me with the results of scans and blood tests.

This doctor told me that the brain scan that I had had showed up a mass which they thought was a tumor and that I would be referred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where the specialists were.

I called my wife as it had not sunk in and she headed straight to me and arranged a meeting with the doctors to get some clarification as I could not remember things and everything was a blur yet again.

I was discharged just over a week later with anti-seizure medication and details of Brain Tumour Clinical nurses at the QE Hospital who had called us to arrange our initial appointment.

It was a lot to take in and we had kept a lot from the children which we felt guilty over but we could not tell them over the phone it had to be done face to face.

A few days after discharge I had a pain in the back of my knee and it was not going away I thought it was a muscle strain from the seizure but speaking to the Brain Tumour CNS they advised hospital ASAP to get it checked for a clot. Again back to the waiting room in Russell’s Hall A&E where we were there over 18 hours waiting to be seen to be given Co-Codamol and to phone up for a Scan Appointment the following morning.

We got the scan and yes it was confirmed I had clots in the back of my Knee so my Wife had to now inject me twice a day with blood thinners.

The kids came back home and we had to sit them down all together. They were devastated but we had to remain positive as a family to move forward.

Life was hard and on the 30th April I was pottering around the house as now I could not drive so TV was my go to I was frustrated and my wife said I was acting out of character so we thought an early night was needed. Again my wife found me having another seizure. Ambulance was called and again admitted to Russell’s Hall. This time I was worse. I had had a big tongue bite which resulted in me being admitted to ICU due to the swelling in my throat. I stayed in there having to have medication drips and build up drinks being fed through a pipe up my nose as it had affected my swallowing.

I was in there for nearly 2 weeks and then transferred back on to the stroke ward. I lost lots of weight and was a shell of the man everyone knew. I had massive bruising under my chin, tongue and in my mouth which gave me pain up the side of my face which was managed by the Maxi facial doctors. The Maxifacial Doctor while she was looking at my mouth and under my tongue as I had pain she pressed the area and it burst. The pressure from the cot in my mouth caused the blood to shoot to the bottom of the bed and my wife went white in horror. The pain had finally gone but pressure was needed to stem the flow of blood from my mouth. It took a few days for this to finally start healing but I did start eating soft foods and started to drink and take tablets normally.

It was agreed between the QE hospital and Russells Hall Hospital that I needed to stay in and that I need to have an IVC filter fitted to my main artery to stop any clots that may be in my body travelling to my Brain, Heart or lungs. This I had fitted prior to being transferred to the QE on the 25th May 2022. I just wanted to be home with my family but I had to find out what was going on. So on the 27th May 2022 I was taken down to theatre for a brain biopsy so they could look at what the tumor is and how best to treat it and if they could remove it.

The operation went as well as it could and my wife said it was the longest day of her life waiting to see if I was ok.

The following day my wife visited and I showed her my right hand and arm which was not functioning correctly. I couldn’t grip, lift or hold anything. They said it was possibly due to the surgeon while taking the biopsy and trying to de-bulk the tumour.

I was discharged on the 29th May a month after being admitted. Having mobility issues has been life changing and the mental torture is real.

Since then i have attended the QE Cancer centre where I have been told I have an inoperable Oligodendra Glioma grade 2. I have had 6 weeks of Radiotherapy followed by 12 months of chemotherapy which finished the end of September 2023.

I am with the love and help of my family and friends staying positive and trying to get on with life and back to some normality.

I have given myself goals to achieve and I will keep pushing to get myself back on track and back to the old Shaun everyone knows.

My first big challenge is to climb the summit of Snowdon with Sedgley Mountaineering Group.

Brain tumours can be devastating, not just for the person diagnosed but for their loved ones as well. The emotional and financial toll can be overwhelming. That's why it's so important to have organizations like Brain Tumour Support that provide practical and emotional support to those in need.

I am asking for your support in this endeavour. Your donation will go directly towards helping those affected by brain tumours receive the support they need. Every little bit helps, and together we can make a difference.