Petts Wood dad who is clear of brain tumour thanks Kings College Hospital surgeons and urges more to have tests

BY TOBY PORTER
toby@slpmedia.co.uk

A retired banker whose daughter thought he had “lost the will to live” before he was diagnosed with a brain tumour is sharing his story to help raise awareness of the disease.

Father-of-three Tadeusz Dabrowski was diagnosed with a grade 1 meningioma in December 2015 after experiencing dementia-like symptoms such as slow and slurred speech, as well as sudden incontinence.

The 69-year-old, from Petts Wood, had surgery at King’s College Hospital (KCH), Camberwell, to remove his tumour in January 2016 and was discharged from hospital a week later.

He suffered no deficit as a result of his experience and has had clear scans ever since, but recognises that not all brain tumour patients are as fortunate as him and is working with Brain Tumour Research, a charity he has supported ever since, to share his story.

He said: “My symptoms apparently began to manifest in little ways around 2012 with family members and friends noticing that something was wrong. My mother died in 2013, with further changes in my symptoms attributed to possible depression.

“I wasn’t aware of any such increasing problems and the first jolt I got was when I was taking my daughter, Natasha, back to the airport in July 2015 as she was working in New York. She said ‘go and see a doctor’ as she thought I’d lost the will to live.

“That was obviously not the case in my mind and I took a dementia test in early August, where they give you a complex name and address to remember, then distract you for about 10 minutes and task you to recall them. I passed with flying colours so thought little more of it until later that year.”

It was that November, whilst on holiday with his wife, Jacqueline, in Puglia, southern Italy, that Tadeusz began experiencing incontinence and, believing that his suspected dementia was getting worse, decided to seek help.

Following an MRI scan in late December 2015, staff at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) in Orpington told him he had a large tumour, 8cm by 8cm by 6cm, in his right frontal lobe.

He was admitted to KCH early in the New Year to be operated on by consultant neurologist Christopher Chandler.

Tadeusz said: “My tumour was a grade 1 meningioma but size was the problem because, where it had formed on my right frontal lobe, it was pushing my brain to one side and, with the water sac that had developed on the other side to counteract this, my brain was literally in a vice, which gave rise to the issues.

“The operation took about seven hours and Mr Chandler’s first words to me afterwards were: ‘we got the lot’. He said it was the biggest tumour he’d ever taken out of someone at that point.

“I feel incredibly lucky and very relieved. I’m aware of being a bit more in touch with my emotions now, that’s one of the strange things to come out of this experience, but I was definitely lucky because had the lesion been on the other side of my head, it would have had a very different and much worse effect. I did get it, but it was in the right place and they were able to remove it all.

“I know now that my speech had become slow and slurry but to me, I was still the bright 17-year-old from all those years ago. I wasn’t in denial; I was just unaware. If I had been on my own, I would not have done anything about it so I’m very thankful for Jacqueline and our three children.

“As soon as I was told what I had, I didn’t hide from it. I sought counsel from my friend David Grant, a Brain Tumour Research campaigner who has sadly since passed away but survived 12 years after being diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). He was very helpful to me personally and very inspiring.

“I had the enquiring mind to find out everything I could about brain tumours because I wanted to face it head on. As I started to read up on the condition and the inadequate funding available, that’s when I found out more about the charity’s work, which I wholeheartedly support. I read all its stories of brain tumour patients and they’re heart-breaking, especially those about young children. More funding is desperately needed.”

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer yet historically just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.

Charlie Allsebrook, community development manager for Brain Tumour Research, said: “We really admire Tadeusz for speaking out about his personal experience to help raise awareness of this devastating disease and encourage others to get help sooner, hopefully leading to earlier diagnoses. It is by talking openly about brain tumours and the underfunding of research that we will be able to improve treatment options for patients and find a cure faster.”

To find out more about Brain Tumour Research and how you can support the charity, visit www.braintumourresearch.org.

Pics: Tadeusz Dabrowski – credit Brain Tumour Research