Paul Bartlett

5 min read

Paul discovered he had “Terry the Tumour” when he was knocked off his bike and suffered concussion. He had had no symptoms at all.

Paul tells his story…

In April 2010, aged 32, I was cycling along when I was hit by a taxi, breaking my left collar bone, my right arm and smashing my helmet. I suffered concussion and was knocked out for a while. Because of the brain trauma, I was able to volunteer to take part in a research study into cognitive behaviour and memory and as a result was asked to have a MRI scan. You can imagine the shock of then discovering I had a brain tumour, which was later revealed to be an ependymoma. I couldn’t really believe it, especially as I didn’t feel any symptoms and thought “I can’t have it!”.

I am the luckiest person I know to have been hit by a London taxi… It was a bizarre way of finding out I had a tumour, which I named Terry. Somehow, giving it a name helped me to deal with it. It helped me in my fight and battle with the tumour and brought some humour to a very grave situation.

In September of 2010, I had Terry the Tumour removed. My neuro-surgeon said that it popped out like a button mushroom – like it shouldn’t have been there. Strangely, having already had two broken arms helped me to accept my slow recovery from the surgery. It now feels like a dream.

I was advised to postpone the start of my PGCE course by a year, but decided to go ahead anyway and have just completed the course, having undergone teaching practices in London inner-city schools.

Earlier this year, I decided I was going to start running again so I started with a series of small runs and then in March entered the Newham 10K run to raise funds for Brain Tumour Research (I was delighted to complete the race in 56 minutes). Without this kind of research, Terry would have settled in, built a nest and had a family!

A month ago I had my last post-op scan which showed that 100% of the tumour had been removed and that there is no residual tumour left. Terry is no longer with us, I am pleased to say and I have my life back once again!

Paul Bartlett
June 2011

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 touched by Paul’s story, you may like to make a donation via https://braintumourresearch.org/donate or leave a gift in your will via www.braintumourresearch.org/legacy.

Together we will find a cure.

Back to In Hope