Florida dream hol was a nightmare
Brain tumour bombshell for dad Barry, 32
An Ayr man told this week how his life was changed forever after collapsing at a waterpark while on a dream family holiday in Florida.
Dad- of- two Barry Reid, 32, was given the bombshell news that he had a brain tumour after suffering a seizure in the States.
Last October Barry, his wife Gillian and their two young daughters, along with his inlaws, travelled to Florida for the vacation.
Then 12 days into their stay at Universal’s Volcano Bay park, Barry had taken the seizure in one of the park’s waterslide queues.
Barry had multiple scans at the hospital in Orlando and an MRI scan showed a frontal lobe brain tumour in the front left of his brain.
Immediately on returning on October 25, Barry was taken straight to Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital to hand over his notes from the American doctors and discuss the next step.
Just two weeks later and Barry was facing an awake craniotomy brain tumour surgery to remove as much of the 3.5cm mass as possible.
He declared: “I was terrified of brain surgery, obviously, I was physically shaking. The day before my surgery was due, the anaesthetist took time to show me around the operating theatre to calm my nerves, explaining the procedure, showing me the table I’d be lying on – everything to calm me down. I’ll always appreciate that.
“I knew I had to put my trust in surgeon Mr Grivas and his team.
“Over ten hours later, the operation was complete. Mr Grivas had done an amazing job and only left 3mm of the tumour in and he was happy with the way the operation had gone.”
Barry’s operation involved him being put under anaesthetic but the surgeon would have to wake him during the operation to perform verbal tests to make sure none of Barry’s healthy tissue was being damaged.
“As they were working nearer to the speech part of my brain, they said I started stuttering and that’s how they knew they could go no further,” he added.
“At one point, the doctors said I was chirping away like a budgie during the awake part of the craniotomy.
“I can’t remember that, so maybe not a bad thing.”
Following chemotherapy treatment for the remaining 3mm of tumour, Barry has spent the last eight months working hard on his recovery and returning to work. He thanked his neurosurgeon and all staff at ward 63 staff.
He now faces more radiotherapy in mid- February 2019 to shrink the remaining parts of the tumour but he and his family are determined to raise as much awareness of the devastating impact of a brain tumour diagnosis as they can
On October 20, he will take part in The Brain Tumour Charity’s Prestwick Twilight Walk, which brings together the community of all of those affected.
Katie Grier, the charity’s community fundraiser, said: “We always knew we had incredible supporters and Barry’s story confirms this.
“Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of the under 40s and survival rates have not improved significantly over the last 40 years. We are leading the way in changing this by fighting brain tumours on all fronts.”
I was terrified of brain surgery, obviously, I was physically shaking