Matthew's Story - Astrocytoma brain tumour

Matthew, from Sussex, was diagnosed with an incurable astrocytoma brain tumour in October 2023. Father-of-two Matthew, who has worked in the NHS for 15 years, is married to his childhood sweetheart Lianne, who is a paediatric nurse. Matthew said that their life was going well before he fell ill. 

“We are lucky enough to have started a family of our own,” he said. “We have a beautiful daughter and a ray-of-sunshine son. I have always liked to learn new things, to be outdoors, go to new places and explore this most amazing world we live in. I have always wanted to instil that into our children." 

“I had been a bit more tired than usual, and I felt burnt out for a while, but overall thought I was well, then one evening in October 2023, I went to play football and about an hour in, everything changed – I had a seizure. We went to A&E and I was admitted into hospital.” 

Over the weekend that followed, Matthew had 15 more seizures, and underwent CT and MRI scans over the following days. 

“I work in the NHS, but you never think you are going to be the patient in that hospital bed. And then I met the neurosurgeons and they said “we’ve found something”. I’ve never been more afraid. Then hearing the words, that there is no cure, I just sat there and cried."

“I looked at Lianne, and I have never seen someone look so determined. In that moment, I absolutely knew that she would do whatever it takes to be there for me.” 

In November 2023, Matthew had surgery to reduce the size of the tumour, followed by radiotherapy and is now having chemotherapy. 

“I’m not too proud to admit that I’m scared. Some days it’s easier than others, some days everything feels impossible. When I look in the mirror, sometimes I don’t see myself. I have come a long way. I climbed the mountain of surgery, the mountain of radiotherapy and now I have the mountain of eight months of chemotherapy. 

“No one really knows what the long-term impact of this treatment will be, but all the cancer is doing is making the love we feel for each other stronger."

“I think about my children’s future every single day. All the things they will achieve, all the places they will go. The reason I take the medicine is because hopefully it will buy some time so I don’t have to miss all the memories I haven’t yet made with the children.” Matthew’s chemotherapy is due to finish in December 2024."

“I am keen to raise awareness to help others – being involved with Stand Up To Cancer has helped give me purpose, it has been part of my treatment.”