Posted on 02/14/2025 1:07:38 PM PST by nickcarraway
A DAD'S cancer symptoms were dismissed as stress by a GP who even accused him of "faking" them - but he died suddenly less than a year later.
Stephen Blakeston, 53, began experiencing troubling symptoms in October 2010, including jumbled speech, severe headaches, and distress, which were completely out of character for him.
A CT scan later revealed the dad had a glioblastoma - an aggressive brain tumour which leaves sufferers with a typical lifespan of 12-18 months.
Stephen, a former council grounds worker, died suddenly on 13 July 2011.
His daughter Hollie Rhodes, 37, a PE teacher and mum-of-two from Hull, is running the London Marathon in his memory to raise money for Brain Tumour Research.
She said: "In October 2010, Mum called me saying he was jumbling up his sentences and not making any sense.
"He also had a massive headache and was really distressed, which wasn't like him at all.
"I couldn't believe it when we visited the GP, who dismissed his symptoms as stress-related and even said he was faking, something I know my dad wouldn't do.
"It was a CT scan at Hull Royal Infirmary that showed he wasn't faking anything.
"The scan found a tumour growing on the left side of his brain, affecting his speech.
"He had surgery the next week, which was successful, but the biopsy confirmed our worst fear - it was incurable and cancerous."
Stephen, survived by his wife, Elaine, daughters Hollie and Lauren, and five grandchildren, underwent one round of intensive radiotherapy and two rounds of chemotherapy to halt the tumour's growth.
Despite experiencing fatigue, his mood remained positive, his family say, and scans showed no signs of further tumour regrowth.
But he died after collapsing at home, when a blood clot - caused by treatment or the tumour- travelled to his heart.
"Dad walked to my sister's room and barely got through the door when he collapsed," Hollie said.
"We called an ambulance but unfortunately paramedics couldn't save him, and they told us after about 20 minutes of fighting that he didn't make it, and he died on her bedroom floor.
"It was so traumatic and unexpected.
"Although his brain scans were clear, a blood clot was found on his heart, which we're not sure if it formed because of his treatment or the tumour.
"It was horrible for us to lose him so suddenly, but there is some comfort in knowing it was quick and likely the way he would have wanted to go. I'll always miss hearing his laugh."
Brain tumours can affect anyone at any age, and kill more men under 70 than prostate cancer.
Around 12,000 people are diagnosed with a primary brain tumour each year in the UK.
Hollie, who is head of PE at a sixth form college, added: "I have personally known three people impacted by brain tumours: my dad, my oldest friend's little boy, Roux, and another friend's sister who died after her brain cancer metastasised from breast cancer.
"The current level of funding for research is just not enough.
"It's the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40, so it should absolutely be a priority to stop these deaths. It almost feels like people view brain tumours as a final prognosis.
blood clots are common in cancer patients. I would start a routine of baby aspirin daily. Might not stop it, but it is worth a try.
A friend of mine around 10 years ago had glioblastoma. He was at work and was acting confused, couldn’t remember things...He went from being diagnosed to death in only 2 weeks but it wasn’t because of socialized medicine, they said he just didn’t have symptoms until it was too late, absolutely horrifying, only 32 and he left a wife and two small kids.
Well, that's a blast from the past. What shook this story loose today?
C’mpn man. This is the U.K. It probably takes the NHS that long to be sure someone is dead.
Was he vaxxed?
Welcome to socialized medicine.
They dug him up and gave him the vax!
Something similar happened to my wife. She quickly went from forgetting work passwords to losing most of her memory and speech in about 2 weeks. The surgery, radiation and chemo were successful. She when into remission for 2 years. 4 tumors came back last February and she restarted treatments. They are inoperable but she could do radiation and chemo. The tumors are pretty stable now. She just passed the 3 and half year mark and will likely pass the 4 year mark and more.
Glioblastoma is a horrible disease. It robs its victims of every by the end.
Same thing happened to my husband. He collapsed at home, and I thought he had a stroke, as he had no symptoms. Tests at the ER showed a glioblastoma. He died 15 days later. Such a shock.
This is sad but glioblastoma is basically a death sentence.
Even a timely diagnosis likely wouldn’t have changed anything.
My wife passed from this very thing last September. Similar situation. The GP and cancer center knew she had advanced incurable Brain Cancer but hid it from us. Instead they put her through the torture of treating a second less severe cancer spot she had in her lung and ignored the Brain Cancer because they knew there was nothing they could do for it. If they had told us we would have just made plans and not had our hopes for her to be cured destroyed because of the Brain Cancer they hid.
Why did they handle it this way? Because if they had been honest with us they would not have made that mint from treating the other cancer for several months. They knew we would have just lived as best she could without all that other useless torture and treatment for that other insignificant spot considering the circumstances and reality. But finally it gave her a brain bleed that put her on hospice for a few weeks and then she had a second brain bleed that finally took her.
This is our new “compassionate” health care system at work here so beware and ask questions and double check EVERYTHING. Do not just blindly trust. You can’t do that anymore. All they care about is making a buck and they will absolutely deceive you to do it.
I am so happy they have been able to keep you together. :)
Gotta love Single-Payer Government Healthcare!
Doctors bury their mistakes.
2011? Why are we bringing up a 13 year story?
Vaxxed? Read the story and you’ll feel silly asking that.
An aspirin a day can cause some people to bleed internally.
But wasn’t the CT free for him?
My condolences, I’m so sorry to hear that. Can I ask how long ago he passed? I ask because I’m noticing that a lot more people now seem to be getting cancer and I don’t know why. Am I imagining this? Another Freeper wrote me as well and said his wife also has glioblastoma right now and is fighting it.
This is a rare cancer, only 3 in 100,000 people get it yet here you both have experience with it. This is took much, something bad is going on today I don’t know what it is, too many people are getting cancer today.
Is it because of the food? The Covid vaccine? Pollutuion? I’m glad to hear RFK Jr. will be looking into this. What we’ve had to deal with since the Obama days, how they tried to destroy Trump and then the damage Biden did, I do not trust our government at all right now, it would not surprise me in the least if this is intentional.
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