When George Wade started suffering from extreme headaches and noticed memory loss, he blamed it on his frequent outings with friends and subsequent hangovers.
However, his symptoms only deteriorated once, even leaving the left side of his body weak and his face drooping. An MRI scan then revealed not one but two brain tumours that had been growing for the last two decades. “I honestly felt helpless and that I was done for,” the 42-year-old marathon runner, from North Yorkshire, told The Sun.
Doctors told George, a fitness fanatic who worked as an auction software engineer, that he had suffered stroke-like symptoms, because of which he struggled to pick up a fork and dropped it on the floor as his face started drooping. “I was told I have two brain tumours-a large one on the right side of my head, which was described as the size of a tennis ball, and another smaller one the size of a squash ball in the middle,” he said.
“I was later told the bigger one might have been growing for 20 years, and only now it has gotten so big it was pushing my brain and causing symptoms,” he added.
To reduce the size of tumours, doctors put George on steroid pills, and following a biopsy surgery, he was diagnosed with two grade 2 astrocytoma tumours – a common type of tumours in both adults and children that develop from cells known as astrocytes. Thereafter, he underwent an eight-hour debulking surgery where the doctors removed 95 per cent of his large brain tumour, but they did not touch the smaller one because of its placement. A few months later, doctors informed George that his larger tumour was diagnosed as stage four, as it was aggressive and growing faster due to a mutation.
He was then put on six months of chemotherapy in pill form until the size of both the tumours began shrinking. Since then, he has also undergone three plastic surgeries on his skull to remove a skin infection as well, apart from getting MRI scans every three months to check and monitor for growth.
What is an astrocytoma tumour?
Experts say an astrocytoma brain tumour originates from star-shaped astrocyte cells, which provide structural support and function for neurons in the brain and spinal cord. These tumours can either be benign or malignant and can be grouped into different grades based on how abnormal the cells look and how quickly they are likely to grow and spread.
Astrocytomas are a common type of glioma – a tumour that forms when glial cells grow uncontrollably.
Doctors say astrocytomas can affect anyone, but different grades tend to affect people at different ages:
- Grade 1 mostly affects children and teens.
- Grade 2 affects adults between 20 and 60 years of age.
- Grade 3 affects adults between 30 and 60 years
- Glioblastoma, or grade 4 astrocytoma, most often affects adults between 50 and 80 years old.
According to experts, Grade 3 and 4 astrocytomas are more likely to affect men.
What causes astrocytoma?
While experts do not know what causes astrocytoma, a majority of these tumours are sporadic, which happen randomly. So far, only two risk factors have been identified, which include radiation exposure and genetics.
Signs and symptoms of astrocytoma
A few common symptoms of astrocytoma, which vary based on its size and location, include:
- Severe headaches
- Nausea and vomiting
- Seizures
- Altered mental status, like delirium
- Memory loss
- Fatigue
- Vision issues
- Speech issues
- Motor issues