Darren Harris, 59, an IT Functional Analyst from Leicester, began suffering from tinnitus and was referred for an MRI in 2015. What followed was a shock diagnosis of a benign but inoperable meningioma at the base of his brain.
Darren underwent gamma knife radiosurgery and has since faced ongoing neurological and heart complications. Ten years on, he is fundraising for Brain Tumour Research in support of future patients and their families.
Darren tells his story…
At the start of March 2015, I’d been suffering from tinnitus for a couple of years. My doctor suggested I have a hearing test at the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton. They tried some treatments that helped a little, but I was then sent for an MRI to check inside of my ear.
Afterwards, I was discharged by ENT (ear nose and throat) because the tinnitus had settled. But soon, things got strange. They kept calling me back for more MRIs, in April, May, and June. I knew something wasn’t right, but no one could tell me why. The MRI staff can’t discuss results, so each time I left feeling frustrated and worried.
Eventually, I was told I needed to see a neurosurgeon. That news came while my wife Sharon and I were on holiday in Spain. Thankfully, I had private medical insurance through work, so I immediately asked the hospital to send my scans to a private neurosurgeon.
On 31st July 2015, I received the diagnosis that changed everything – I had a brain tumour. It was a benign tentorial meningioma, an inch and a half wide, sitting at the base of my brain near the top of the spine. Because of its position, my doctor said that it was inoperable.
It was terrifying. My world was turned upside down. I didn’t know what would happen next.
My neurosurgeon explained that it was slow-growing and may have been there for many years.
Since surgery wasn’t an option, I was referred to Thornbury Hospital in Sheffield for gamma knife radiosurgery on 6th September 2015. It’s an incredible technology, they bolt a metal frame to your skull, map the tumour in 3D to within 0.2mm accuracy, and then target it with over 300 beams of radiation to heat and destroy the tumour cells without damaging healthy tissue.
The procedure took around two and a half hours. They were confident they’d treated the whole tumour. I recovered well and went back to work in October 2015.
Sadly, that wasn’t the end of it. By November, I started experiencing shattering headaches, and further scans showed swelling of the tumour, a normal reaction to the treatment, but still worrying.
Then, in early 2016, I had two tonic-clonic seizures on the same day. It was frightening.
Thankfully, my wife was with me. I was taken to hospital and placed on anti-epilepsy medication, which meant giving up my driving licence, something I found incredibly hard.
Over time, I also developed atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm disorder brought on by the seizures. I’ve had multiple cardioversion procedures to shock my heart back into rhythm and eventually had a cryoablation, which involves freezing a valve in the heart to control the heart rate. I may need a pacemaker in the future.
I’m now retired and still have neurological effects, pins and needles on my left side, migraines, and fatigue. My speech sometimes slurs by the end of the day, and I continue to have focal seizures.
Despite all that, I feel lucky to still be here. This year marks 10 years since my diagnosis, and my wife and I wanted to give something back.
We’re both spiritualists, so we organised a fundraising evening connecting people with messages from loved ones who’ve passed and raised £804 for Brain Tumour Research.
My message to anyone just starting this journey is to take each day as it comes and listen to your surgeons. Research has given me time, and time is everything.
The government needs to cut through bureaucracy and invest properly in research so the NHS can offer the same advanced treatments that saved my life to everyone, not just those with private healthcare.
Darren Harris
December 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 Darren’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.
