Man with incurable brain cancer raises money to improve research into condition

A man who waited three years to receive a brain cancer diagnosis is fundraising towards better research for the condition.

Dan Potts, who now lives in Cumbria, began to get headaches and weakness when he was living and working in Guernsey in 2018.

Doctors initially thought it was down to a pinched nerve and it wasn't until a year ago that a third scan in the UK revealed Dan had a high grade brain tumour.

Dan has documented his journey in a Tik Tok. Credit: Dan Potts

The diagnosis came after Dan had been unable to complete a simple task.

"I went to write a text and I thought it made perfect sense. I looked down and it made no sense at all," he said.

"All the words were repeated, back to front and they said straight away 'you need to go to the hospital'. So we went and I had a scan of my brain and they saw there was a huge tumour in there."

Dan has been through chemotherapy and radiotherapy for the aggressive cancer, which is at an advanced stage and can't be cured.

Twelve months ago he was in intensive care, unable to see his wife Liah, having just had surgery to try to remove the tumour.

The couple are making the most of this Christmas as it could be Dan's last. Credit: Dan Potts

Liah said: "I couldn't even speak to him on the phone because at that point there was so much pressure in his brain that he couldn't speak at all, not a single word.

"And it also affects his writing or texting ability so I couldn't even get a message or anything."

Aware that this Christmas could be his last, Dan and Liah are now crowdfunding for Brain Tumour Research.

Dan said: "Something like 1% of all research goes to cancer for the brain even though it's the most terminal in my age group."

"Cancer for anybody is dreadful news, we feel for anybody but hopefully they can have 10 years or five years whereas the average is 15 months for what I have."