Yahoo News Tom, 41, left in wheelchair as brain tumour found after seven visits to doctor
Brain tumour patient Tom Shaw has lifted the lid on how the condition changed his life and left him in a wheelchair. And the tumour was only found after the 41-year-old's seventh trip to the doctors.
Now Tom, of Stafford, has written a book about his ordeal in an effort to raise awareness and support others. It was when he was 24 that Tom began to suffer 'intense head pains' and issues with his balance.
After being found passed out on the bedroom floor by his girlfriend, and a seventh trip to the doctor, that medics diagnosed him with a hemangioblastoma brain tumour. Such a tumour is said to 'grow slowly' over a number of years and are known to press on surrounding brain or spinal cord tissue - which causes the symptoms that Tom endured.
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It was around four months before his diagnosis that Tom began to suffer 'head pains' but said the signs weren't obvious - until things got worse. He said: "The signs then started to become more obvious. When I woke up, I would sit on the side of the bed and wait for the throbbing in my head to start, and then wait about a minute for it to stop.
"Stepping over the side of the bath into the shower each morning would set it off. I stopped using some machines at the gym because the pain in my head was too much.
"The throbbing became more frequent and happened multiple times a day. I went on holiday and my head pain was so frequent and presented itself when looking up to catch a frisbee or getting into a cold pool. I finally admitted I had a problem and pursued a solution."
Tom says it took seven trips to the doctors and collapsing before he underwent an MRI scan. He said: "I still remember being told that they had 'found something'."
Tom then said he was sat in an ambulance 'quietly sobbing to myself' as he was transferred to Stafford Hospital from Cannock. After a few days he spoke with a neurologist who said the hemangioblastoma wasn't high-grade and was growing slowly and was located at the back and bottom of the brain.
However it was when Tom underwent surgery that medics discovered it was worse than first believed. "Not long into the operation, however, the neurosurgeon gave my parents a new diagnosis," explained Tom: "The tumour was far more severe than the MRI scans had shown.
"The big problem was that it was so distended with blood it was likely to burst at any point, almost certainly within the next forty-eight hours. Not operating would result in death, but operating only offered a chance of survival
"Any of the blood vessels could be an essential supply to the brain stem. Every one he cut was likely to starve a part of the brain of oxygen, so he knew he was going to cause damage, but it was near-impossible to predict to what extent."
The operation went on for 13 hours and Tom then spent weeks in intensive care and underwent a tracheostomy - where an opening in the neck is created to provide an airway. After four months at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Tom spent eight months at Haywood Hospital in the Potteries in the neuro-specialist rehabilitation unit.
In the present day Tom says he cannot walk unaided, has 'absolutely no balance', and suffers with ataxia - which can impact walking, hand coordination, speech and eye movements. He also experiences double vision while he couldn't talk for six months after the surgery.
Now Tom has penned a book to tell his story, a story he admits he's 'struggled to tell'. Entitled Brain Tumours, John Bonham and Fat Pigeons, he regards it as a 'cautionary tale' for anyone experiencing the symptoms he did.
Tom said: "It’s also to illustrate that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I feel very fortunate to be able to share my story, and maybe stop somebody making the same mistakes as me.
"For me, there had been plenty of opportunities to identify what quite possibly was a non-life threatening brain tumour. It’s so important for anybody who may be experiencing, or might experience similar symptoms in the future, to sort it now. It won’t go away.”
Louise Aubrey, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research, said: "Brain tumours are indiscriminate, which means they can affect anyone at any time, regardless of age, health, or race. This is why we tragically see brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer.
"Despite these devastating figures, just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to brain tumours since records began in 2002. It’s vital for people like Tom to share their experiences of battling this disease, so that more of us can come together to find a cure."
Details on Tom's book can be found here. Meanwhile information on donating to Brain Tumour Research can be found here.
