‘I went from cycling up a hill to having 7-hour op to remove two brain tumours...’
A CYCLIST has revealed how he only discovered he had two brain tumours after suddenly collapsing on a bike ride when he could not control his mouth.
Steve Ryder, from Stainland in Calderdale, was rushed to hospital after suffering a seizure in July last year.
The 51-year-old recalled how just a quarter of a mile up a big climb, he could not his mouth from “opening and shutting on its own”, with his involuntary actions eventually revealing a hidden and sinister diagnosis.
“I put my hand over my mouth to try and stop it but the movement was involuntary and it wouldn’t stop,” Mr Ryder said. “I pulled over and rested my bike up against a wall at the side of the road. I sat down and a few seconds later, I began having a seizure.”
Mr Ryder, who has a wife Eileen and is a stepdad to her three children, managed to attract the attention of a passer-by who stopped and called an ambulance.
He was taken to Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax where he underwent a CT scan where doctors discovered he had two brain tumours and two brain bleeds. Just over a week later, Steve had a seven-hour operation to remove the tumours but surgery came at a difficult time for the family with Eileen discovering her mum had died just before he was taken into theatre.
He said: “As if the situation couldn’t have been more stressful for Eileen, as we waited for me to be taken into theatre, she received a phone call to say her mum had died. My mother-in-law was 83 and had been suffering from dementia. It was just horrific. I felt awful that I couldn’t be there to support her.”
Mr Ryder’s post-op scan images confirmed that both tumours had been successfully removed and he was discharged from hospital on Monday, July 27, last year.
However, the results from the histology revealed a shock diagnosis, Steve was not expecting.
He said: “The biopsy results showed I had stage 4 melanoma. It later transpired that I had received incorrect results from a histology report on a mole that was removed from my chest in May 2018. Having been told that the mole was non-cancerous, it was re-analysed and cancerous melanoma cells were, in fact, discovered. It was very difficult news to digest.”
Steve has continued to have MRI scans, with the latest earlier this month revealing that the tumour has not returned.
He set up a birthday fundraiser on Facebook for Brain Tumour Research which amassed hundreds of pounds. The charity is calling for a national annual spend of £35 million in order to improve survival rates and patient outcomes in line with other cancers. To find out about the charity’s Wear A Hat Day fundraiser visit: www.braintumourresearch. org/fundraise/wear-a-hat-day