Tyler Morton, 21, from Bedford, was diagnosed with a glioblastoma in February 2026. Initially, he had an earache but soon after the left-side of his face went numb. Tyler’s condition rapidly deteriorated and he was unable to walk. An MRI scan revealed a tumour so advanced, no treatment was available. Tyler died in March 2026. His sister, Ella, did the 200k in May Your Way challenge to raise money for Brain Tumour Research in his memory.
Here is Tyler’s story, as told by his sister, Ella…
Tyler was an amazing older brother. He was funny and kind – the sort of brother I went to for anything. We both lived with our nan and we were inseparable.
Tyler was an artist and was really into anime, but he could pretty much put his hand to anything. He was very outgoing and learned to do everything himself, such as how to play the guitar without using music sheets. He just listened to it and played it.
One day in January 2026, Tyler came downstairs complaining about an earache.
He thought water was trapped in his ear and asked what he should do. I said he could either let it dry out or I could take him to the hospital to get some antibiotics.
Tyler was never one for complaining. He didn't want to go to the hospital, and he didn't like going to the doctors, so the earache continued for about a week but then he couldn't feel the left side of his face. It went completely numb.
He also lost his balance and couldn't walk properly. I demanded he went to hospital, so he went to Bedford Hospital where he was diagnosed with an ear infection.
I explained how Tyler also couldn’t feel his face and couldn’t walk, but the doctors said this was because the ear affects balance.
Tyler was prescribed antibiotics for a week, but they didn't work. He was throwing up everywhere. He couldn't walk and lost the function on the whole of the left side of his body.
I was very concerned, particularly because I‘d watched a hospital documentary where people were diagnosed with different diseases. I said to Tyler that, worst case scenario, he might have a brain tumour. He said, “How can I have a tumour?”
I told him that he needed to get a scan done. I don’t have a medical background but, with the problems Tyler had, I knew this was something more than just an earache.
Four days later, while I was at my boyfriend's house, Tyler messaged me, saying he needed to go to the hospital. He was panicking because he couldn't move, couldn't feel his face, and he was being sick.
I rushed back home, picked him up, and took him to A&E at Bedford Hospital straight away. Tyler’s heart rate was through the roof, and he lost function of his body so he couldn't lie down properly.
He had deteriorated within weeks. It was like I blinked and it was just happening.
A CT scan didn’t show anything untoward. We were told that Tyler had vertigo, so they gave him anti-sickness medication and sent him home.
The medication didn’t help at all. Tyler was constantly throwing up, and he looked very poorly so I took him back to the hospital.
As soon as we got there, he had two seizures.
He was physically disabled by this point, he could barely talk and he couldn't eat anything. Tyler was then put on a ward to be monitored and have an IV drip because he was so dehydrated.
We then waited five days until Tyler had a CT scan, which revealed a lesion on his brain. A week later, Tyler had a follow up scan at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. The following day he had a biopsy; a week later, we were told Tyler had a grade 4 glioblastoma.
Three weeks earlier, he was walking and talking, and now he couldn't do anything himself. He was just a body at that point.
Tyler was discharged from hospital to basically pass away at home. He stayed with our dad, and there was a hospital bed there for him.
I sat with Tyler but he was crying so much. Dad took me out of the room and told me that he only had three days to live.
I was so angry and upset that we hadn't found out he had a brain tumour sooner. I definitely think a lot more could have been done for him.
We were told Tyler couldn’t have any treatment such as chemotherapy because his body wouldn’t have been able to handle it. He had deteriorated so much.
If they had found it sooner, he probably would have had the chance to have chemotherapy. At least that would have felt like we tried.
Despite being told he only had three days to live, Tyler did really well and kept going for another six weeks until he died at home on 25th March 2026.
Everything happened so quickly. I knew that you could get cancer everywhere in the body, but I didn't realise how badly it affects you if it’s in the brain. If you get cancer in your bladder, for example, you can have that removed, and then you're cancer free. That's the reality. You can do that, whereas with your brain, you can't.
I was distraught at the fact they couldn't do anything for my brother.
Brain tumours continue to kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer yet 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, which is why I recently did the 200k in May challenge to raise money for the charity. Research is vital if we are to find a cure for brain tumours.
What happened to Tyler was such a traumatising experience and I don't want anyone else to go through that.
Ella Morton
June 2026
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 Tyler’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.
