Warning: This article discusses cancer, which some readers may find distressing.
A man diagnosed with brain cancer has revealed how he initially mistook his symptoms for those related to exercise.
Sean Sweeney, hailing from Doncaster in northern England, was informed he had an incurable grade three astrocytoma, a rapidly growing malignant brain tumor, in July 2022, while he was in his late 20s.
Since early 2022, Sean had been experiencing consistent headaches, muscle aches, and an unusual tingling sensation along the right side of his body.
Convinced these were due to a neck ligament injury from weight training, he sought physiotherapy treatment.
Despite undergoing several physiotherapy sessions, the root cause of his discomfort remained unidentified, leading his physiotherapist to discharge him.
“That was worrying,” Sean, now 31, shared with Brain Tumor Research, a UK-based charity.
“I remember feeling frustrated and unsettled, thinking, ‘I don’t feel right’, but not being able to explain why. I was struggling to concentrate, and the symptoms just kept lingering.”
Everything changed in July 2022.
Sean, from Yorkshire, experienced a seizure while asleep, waking up to his partner Lucy’s alarm. The couple, together for 12 years, married shortly after his diagnosis.
“The night of my seizure had a huge impact on her, leaving her anxious and unable to return home for several days,” Sean said.
“Throughout everything, Lucy has been my absolute rock, and I couldn’t have got through this without her.
“While I was in A&E, doctors carried out a CT scan. Later that morning, during a ward round, a junior doctor told me they had found a lesion on my brain. I felt completely numb. I didn’t cry or panic – my mind went straight to Lucy and my family.”
In a GoFundMe campaign aimed at raising money to find a cure, Sean detailed how his diagnosis “dominated” his life, beginning with surgery.
“Following some intense preparation with clinical Psychologists in the months prior, I undertook a near 10-hour awake craniotomy brain surgery to help debulk my brain tumour in November 2022,” he wrote.
“It was during this procedure that I suffered an acute stroke for which I am extremely lucky to have no significant lasting side effects today.”
The American Cancer Society estimated that 18,330 people were expected to die from brain and spinal cord tumors. Sean also highlighted that in the UK, ‘brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer’.
If these issues have affected you and you need to talk confidentially, contact the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345 or use their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.