Dan was at university when he started to suffer from crippling headaches, which eventually led to a diagnosis of a brain tumour. Four surgeries and 14 years later, he is still fighting. Now a husband and father to a two-year-old son, he is determined to do everything he can to stay alive — and hopeful that pioneering treatment in the US could offer him more time.
Dan tells his story…
I was in my second year at Aston University in Birmingham in 2011 when I started suffering from really bad headaches. They were so severe that I would often be sick, usually in the mornings, and I found myself hiding in dark rooms just to get through the day.
Over six months, I saw three different GPs. One told me I had a trapped nerve. Another diagnosed an imbalance in my ears and prescribed travel sickness tablets. A third suggested my symptoms were psychological and prescribed me anti-depressants — which I never took. None of them took me seriously.
In the end, a free eye test voucher from Vision Express saved my life.
I went to the Merry Hill branch, where the optician noticed swelling on my optic nerve and referred me for emergency treatment. At A&E, I was nearly discharged again, but thankfully a supervisor insisted on an MRI. That scan revealed a tumour the size of a golf ball pressing on the fourth ventricle of my brain, blocking the flow of cerebral spinal fluid and causing intense pressure.
I had emergency surgery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham the next day. I was diagnosed with a grade 2 brain tumour, but recovery was brutal. I spent six weeks in hospital, re-learning how to walk, talk and think. I lost some function permanently in one hand and one ear, but I managed to return to university and finish my degree with the help of a Dictaphone and new glasses.
In 2014, the tumour returned — but this time it was cancerous. I underwent another surgery and targeted radiotherapy. I was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour called an ependymoma, which mostly affects children. The radiotherapy was terrifying. Being strapped to a machine with a fitted mask triggered panic attacks for the first time in my life.
Despite this, I pushed on with life. I moved to London, worked in Westminster as a parliamentary researcher, and tried to enjoy everything — travelling, seeing friends, living normally.
But in 2018, the tumour came back for a third time — this time near the area of the brain that controls emotion. I had surgery, again, with my brilliant neurosurgeon Mr Vladimir Petrik, and continued radiotherapy at the Royal Marsden in Chelsea. That same year, I adopted a Shih Tzu called Bella. She became my constant companion and later received special permission to accompany me onto the Parliamentary Estate as a trained therapy dog.
In 2020, I married Sonia, my childhood sweetheart and the person who’s stood by me through every phase of this journey. She was working in Government at the time and went through her own professional challenges, including a high-profile dismissal which she settled out of court. We’ve both faced enormous stress in our lives, and we’ve done everything we can to support each other through it all.
In 2022, our son Elijah was born, the greatest joy of our lives. For a while, things felt perfect. I was in remission, and life seemed full of possibility.
But in late 2024, our world was turned upside down again. I was diagnosed not only with another brain tumour but also, devastatingly, with a tumour in my spine. The cancer had spread into my cerebrospinal fluid, which meant the disease could travel and form new tumours throughout my brain and spine. My case became too complex for existing UK data to guide my treatment.
After consulting with top hospitals in the US — including Massachusetts General and Stanford — I was advised to undergo full craniospinal radiation. This would leave me three times more likely to die of a stroke or heart attack and take four to six months to recover from. But it was the only remaining treatment available to me in the UK.
I’m now receiving that radiation at the Royal Marsden. After this, I will have no more radiotherapy options.
If the cancer returns, chemotherapy is my only option, and it’s not known to be effective for my tumour type. There are no clinical trials available to me in the UK.
That’s why I fundraised to go to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, one of the world’s leading hospitals for complex cancers. They offered me hope when no one else can. Their pioneering approach and personalised treatments could extend my life and give me more precious years with my son.
I want to see Elijah’s first day at school. I want to be there when he learns to ride a bike. I want to walk him to the park, read him stories, help with homework, and one day, be the dad cheering him on from the sidelines.
I’m 34 years old. I’m not ready to give up. We need to keep fighting for kinder treatments to be made available for brain tumour patients in the UK.
Brain tumours remain one of the most underfunded and least understood cancers. They kill more children and adults under 40 than any other cancer yet, to date, just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease since records began in 2002. That’s a shocking injustice, and something I hope to continue raising awareness.
Dan Horrocks
May 2025
One in three people in the UK knows someone affected by a brain tumour. This disease is indiscriminate; it can affect anyone at any age. What’s more, brain tumours continue to kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer yet, to date, just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease since records began in 2002.
Brain Tumour Research is determined to change this.
If you have been inspired by Dan’s story, you may like to make a donation via www.braintumourresearch.org/donate or leave a gift in your will via www.braintumourresearch.org/legacy
Together we will find a cure