Geoff Grigg, from Lee-on-the-Solent in Hampshire, first started exhibiting signs of memory loss and decreased cognitive capacity in February 2021. After his symptoms rapidly worsened, to the point where Geoff needed constant assistance with the simplest of tasks, he was diagnosed with a multifocal glioblastoma (GBM) in June 2021. Geoff was given a prognosis of three to six months, but died just five weeks later, at the age of 74.
Here is Geoff’s story, as told by his wife Sue…
My husband was the kindest most gentle man you could ever imagine. He was quiet and could be quite droll; he was caring and giving. He always found the good in people, and he made me a better person. We were both teachers; he was a woodwork, metalwork and technical drawing teacher, and I taught art. After he retired, he volunteered in the Portsmouth dockyard, renovating traditional boats.
It was in February 2021 that I noticed something was off. It was during the COVID-19 pandemic, where life was changing people across the world. In my journal at the time, I wrote, “by far the biggest and most savage damage has come to Geoff”. His memory was gradually diminishing, he forgot simple things, he couldn’t follow simple plots on the television, and the simplest of tasks became a huge challenge. It appeared as if everything was pointing towards Alzheimer’s disease.
We spoke with the memory clinic, but via the phone due to the pandemic restrictions at the time. It was suggested that he had signs of dementia, but they were also keen for him to have an MRI scan.
During the wait for the scan, he diminished in such a rapid way.
“At times he would forget how to sit down, he couldn’t eat with utensils, he couldn’t wash himself.”
I besieged the clinic to hasten on the MRI as it was vital we found out what was going on. Geoff was given high dose steroids the day after the scan revealed a growth, although we had to wait two weeks to see the neurosurgeon in Southampton General Hospital. Looking at the scan, I couldn’t see Geoff’s brain. It was just one huge tumour, with these awful tendrils spreading all over the place. He was given the diagnosis of a multifocal high grade glioblastoma (GBM), affecting both cerebral hemispheres in the temporal and occipital lobes and the corpus callosum.
“We were told there was no hope.”
Due to the size of the tumour, an operation was impossible.
He lost his speech which was tragic; the only thing I could read was his eyes. It was believed he might have seizures and he would suffer personality changes during these final weeks, but thankfully he didn’t. The Rowans Hospice team said he was the most wonderful, grateful patient.
We were told to expect three to six months, but in fact he died five weeks after his diagnosis on 24 June, 2021.
After he died, I knew I wasn’t very well. My life had been shattered, I was distraught. On the day of his cremation, I felt this terrible pain in my chest. I wasn’t going to bother to ring the ambulance. I didn’t see the point.
“I thought if I die, I die, as without him, there was no point.”
The only thought that made me make the call was that I knew he would hate for me to give up. It was a heart attack, and I now have a stent. It’s left me disabled with heart failure. I know it was caused by Geoff’s death, and how sudden everything was.
I will never know if things would have been different if the tumour had been discovered earlier. All the symptoms he had, it could have been lots of things, but nobody ever suggested it would be a brain tumour. It always seems to be the last consideration. Not enough people know about what to look out for.
“An MRI scan should be one of the first options, not the last resort. By the time Geoff’s tumour had been found, it was already too late.”
In the three years since his death, I have spent so much time wondering if there was there anything I could have done differently. Could I have noticed years before? There was also a history of cancers in his family, and Geoff had already recovered from prostate cancer. Could there be some link there?
There are so many unanswered questions, which is why funding more research into the disease is so important. I totally support Brain Tumour Research as it calls for the government to follow through on its 2018 promise to invest £40 million into research into brain tumours.
“What could be more important than making diagnoses quicker and potentially saving lives?”
Early detection of this disease is needed because when one person develops this awful cancer, so many lives are lost.
Sue Grigg
October 2024
Brain tumours are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone at any age. What’s more, they 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.
If you have been touched by Geoff’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