A fitness fanatic has told of his horror after work-related stress and a ‘Christmas flu’ turned out to be an incurable brain tumour.
Adam Chapman, from Worcester, suffered headaches for six months after his wedding day in 2022.
But it was only after the 43-year-old also struggled to stand or walk and had trouble understanding simple instructions that his family forced him to call an ambulance.
Hospital tests showed he was suffering a high-grade glioblastoma — one of the deadliest types of brain tumours.
Typical treatment plans for the ‘aggressive’ cancer — which strikes around 3,000 Brits and 12,000 Americans each year — sees patients have surgery before chemo and radiotherapy. This is still the same way it was treated in the early 2000s.
Adam Chapman (pictured), from Worcester, suffered headaches for six months after his wedding day in 2022
But it was only after the 43-year-old also struggled to stand or walk and had trouble understanding simple instructions that his family forced him to call an ambulance
Tests showed he was suffering a high-grade glioblastoma — one of the deadliest types of brain tumour
Mr Chapman, who used to train in the gym five days a week, has now undergone two operations as well as months of gruelling radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
His memory, cognition and sight have also all been ‘severely impacted’ after he suffered a stroke during his initial 12-hour surgery.
Recalling his diagnosis Mr Chapman — who also competed in 10k assault course races before his diagnosis — said: ‘I put the headaches down to work related stress, tiredness, and the tail end of the Christmas flu.
‘My thoughts were blurred and things didn’t seem to make sense; I was slowly starting to lose control of my brain and body.
‘People appear to think that because I’ve had surgery and chemotherapy and I’m at home now, I must be ok.
‘They don’t understand that my tumour will continually come back for the rest of my now limited life, and that all we are doing with treatments is delaying the cancer to give me as long as possible.’
He added: ‘Without the priceless support of friends and family, who have been living this nightmare with me, things would have been even tougher.’
Diagnosed patients usually undergo surgery to remove as much of the tumour as possible.
Mr Chapman, who used to train in the gym five days a week, has now undergone two operations as well as months of gruelling radiotherapy and chemotherapy
His memory, cognition and sight have also all been ‘severely impacted’ after he suffered a stroke during his initial 12-hour surgery
This is followed by daily radiation and chemo drugs for around six weeks, after which the drugs are scaled back.
Radiation can be then used to destroy additional tumour cells and treat those who are not well enough for surgery. But the cancer can double in size in just seven weeks.
Average survival time for glioblastoma is between 12 and 18 months, according to the Brain Tumour Charity. Only 5 per cent of patients survive five years, it says.
The disease killed the Labour politician Dame Tessa Jowell in 2018.
In March 2022, The Wanted singer Tom Parker also died following an 18-month battle with stage four glioblastoma.
Mr Chapman is now working alongside Brain Tumour Research and calling for the government to follow through on a 2018 promise to invest £40million into research.
He added: ‘It is so frustrating that the government have not yet invested the money they said they would, and that just 1 per cent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to the disease since records began in 2002.
Average survival time for glioblastoma is between 12 and 18 months, according to the Brain Tumour Charity. Only 5 per cent of patients survive five years, it says
The cancer, which is diagnosed in around 3,000 Brits and 12,000 Americans a year, is still treated in the same way it was in the early 2000s. It killed the Labour politician Dame Tessa Jowell in 2018
The Wanted singer Tom Parker (pictured with his wife Kelsey Parker in October 2021) died in March 2022 following an 18-month battle with stage four glioblastoma. He said after his diagnosis that he was ‘shocked’ at the limited treatment options for GBM and ‘massive improvements’ were needed
‘It’s so important to raise awareness of brain cancer; it’s very misunderstood in comparison to other forms.
‘People do not seem to grasp the fact that there is no cure.’
Hugh Adams, spokesperson for Brain Tumour Research, said: ‘When £40 million was made available by the government for allocation to brain tumour researchers we didn’t consider for a moment that a full deployment of that amount wouldn’t happen.
‘Six years later and only 25 per cent of that funding is actually in the hands of the scientists who hold the key to unlocking the uniquely complex puzzle that brain tumours pose.
‘Our 2024 “It’s Time to do Things Differently” manifesto is very clear that we want the government to work with Brain Tumour Research to develop a roadmap for full deployment of this money.
‘Brain tumour patients do not have the luxury of time and any barriers to research funding must be identified and removed.
‘If we do not do this then the shocking statistics surrounding this devastating disease will remain and, for all of us at Brain Tumour Research, that is just not acceptable.’
