As I waited for brain surgery, I instinctively pressed record on my phone camera, thinking I might be documenting the final months of my life.I have made a career telling other people’s stories but this seemed like a time to tell my own.It began with a bicycle crash in June 2023 when I broke 10 ribs – but that led to me discovering a much bigger health challenge. In bed one night, I had a seizure which revealed a cancerous brain tumour.The most likely scenario seemed to be that I had an aggressive glioblastoma, a tumour which typically ends your life within 12 to 18 months.In my hospital bed, I turned the camera on myself, not as a self-indulgence, but to spotlight a nasty cancer that’s hard to treat and even harder to beat.I suppose this was my way of extracting some purpose from a personal tragedy.The result is My Brain Tumour And Me – a TV and iPlayer film that is far more optimistic than you might think.After 15 months I’m still going strong because it turns out I have a rare form of the disease, an oligodendroglioma, that tends to respond better to treatment.The brilliant brain surgeon Paul Brennan saved my life by chopping out most of my tumour and, with radiotherapy and chemotherapy, it seems to be keeping my cancer in check for now.There are quarterly scans to see if it’s growing again. There have been a couple of false alarms but the most recent check suggests my tumour is stable. I have no idea how long that will last.I try not to worry too much between scans because what my brain tumour is up to is not within my control.What I have been learning to deal with are the difficult legacies of my cancer treatment – persistent fatigue and the risk of further seizures.A daily nap and careful budgeting of my time and effort help with the fatigue.Adjustments to anti-seizure medication have minimised the frequency and severity of any fits. It has taken time, trial and error to get that right.In December last year I had a very big seizure which put me in intensive care.A medically-induced coma was the only way doctors could make it stop.When I came round I felt extremely lucky to be alive – but the euphoria I had experienced after brain surgery was absent.This time, I felt as if I had only narrowly escaped death. It had all been a bit too close for comfort. I was very emotional.This was, and remains, the lowest po …
