Mathew Carpenter, a thirty-something Briton, went unnoticed for a glioma for 8 years. The brain tumor went unnoticed, despite a series of medical tests. He now wants to share the early warning signs, in order to save other lives.
Un glioma passé inaperçu lors d’un scanner de routine
Many ailments could have been avoided if the scan had detected Mr. Carpenter’s tumor in 2010, when he was 20 years old. Moreover, he never felt the precursor symptoms of a cancerous glioma, such as migraines or vision problems. “Over the eight years that my brain tumor went unnoticed (…), I never had a single headache, not even with a hangover,” he told Daily Mail. And when he is sober, he sometimes suffers from aphasia. He simply thought he needed a speech therapist, when it is actually an alarming sign. Similarly, he attributed his extreme fatigue to his 70 or even 80 hours of work.
The first seizures occurred when Mr. Carpenter was on a flight to the United States. He fell asleep and upon waking up, he remembered “making a weird sound, drooling, being unable to move and having trouble breathing”. He thought he was experiencing sleep paralysis, but the seizures then repeated themselves for months.
A brain tumor the size of an egg
Following a violent seizure during a work meeting, Mr. Carpenter underwent a diagnosis in January 2018. The results revealed that he was suffering from a “low-grade glioma brain growth – the size of a Cadbury cream egg”.
One tumor was removed in March 2018, during a long awake brain surgery. The doctors then told him that the post-operative period would handicap him for months. To everyone’s surprise, Mr. Carpenter resumed his former hectic pace three months later, in a homeless shelter. He also completed the Tough Mudder obstacle course twice, on a 16-19 km track.
The battle is far from won, however, as Mr. Carpenter has developed a second brain tumor, in addition to scoliosis and diabetes. Despite the obstacles, the man remains undeterred. Thus, Mr. Carpenter still plans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in April 2024, to support the MacMillan Cancer Support association.
Sources: Dailymail, Gofundme, Hulldailymail
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2023-12-30 19:14:00
