‘I’M STAYING POSITIVE’ – DAD IN LOCKDOWN CANCER SHOCK
AFATHER-OF-SIX has relived the moment he was diagnosed with an incurable cancerous brain tumour during lockdown.
Gareth Harris, a well-respected Welsh mountain biker, was found to have an aggressive and fast-growing tumour following scans in hospital last month.
Since being given the devastating news, the 51-year-old has stuck to Welsh Government guidelines and stayed at home to prevent the spread of coronavirus or contracting it himself.
While he has been able to spend time with his wife, Jennifer, and their four youngest children – Hannah, 17, Holly, 16, Ffion, eight, and Lili-Mai, six – his two oldest children Luke, 28, and Molly, 25, do not live with the rest of them.
“I haven’t been able to see my two oldest children since I have been diagnosed,” said Gareth, who is originally from Maesteg, Bridgend, and still has relatives there.
“It’s been incredibly hard on them, but I’m just glad that it’s me who has this and not one of them because I don’t think I could cope.
“I’m just trying to stay positive and enjoy being with my wife and four of the children while I still can.”
Gareth said he first noticed something was wrong in March when he suddenly lost sight in both eyes while driving from Tenby to his home in Carmarthenshire.
“I went blind in my right eye, and then my left, just for a couple of seconds,” he recalled.
“Luckily my wife was with me in the car and she was able to drive us home. I didn’t think much of it really at the time.”
But after returning home to Llanfynydd, Carmarthenshire, Gareth started getting pins and needles in his left foot, which would not subside.
“I thought maybe it was a trapped nerve or something,” he said.
“But after a few weeks I began to then lose control of my left hand.”
Gareth, a painter and decorator, said things took a nasty turn when he started volunteering as a driver to deliver prescriptions to people in his community at the start of the coronavirus lockdown.
“I found myself having trouble changing gear,” he said. “I thought at this point that I needed to call a doctor to find out what was wrong with me.
“I was referred by my GP for a CT and MRI scan, but the pins and needles returned and I made the decision to go to A&E before my appointment.”
Within two hours of being in the emergency department at Glangwili Hospital, Carmarthen, Gareth was undergoing brain scans.
He then found himself on a medical assessment ward being told the worst news imaginable by two young doctors.
A brain tumour had been located in his brain which was not only cancerous, but an aggressive form of the disease. “It was just devastating,” he said. “Because of the coronavirus outbreak I was in the hospital on my own – I couldn’t tell my wife about it for hours.
“When I look back now I did suffer with some really bad headaches in March, but I just thought it was a bug of some kind as they went away and I carried on working.”
As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic,
Gareth said doctors have not been able to carry out a biopsy on the tumour or give him chemotherapy, as it would “wipe out” his immune system.
“They just know that it’s a very aggressive, fast-growing tumour, but they haven’t put a precise time on how long I have left,” he said.
“Radiotherapy is the only thing I’ve been given and that will hopefully shrink it and give me more time.”
Avid mountain biker Gareth said he is still continuing to ride around his local forest, but has fallen off more times than normal in recent weeks.
He admitted he is also suffering greatly with fatigue from his radiotherapy.
One of his friends, Duncan Porter, has set up a page on GoFundMe in an effort to give Gareth an electric bike – and within three days more than £6,600 was raised.
“I just cannot believe it. The total is completely overwhelming,” added Gareth, who is also a grandfather.
“People have been donating from all over the place. It’s quite unbelievable.”
Despite being put in the “at-risk” category for coronavirus and being told to “shield” himself, Gareth has now created a bucket list of things he wants to accomplish.
They include taking part in several big mountain bike challenges, as well as completing a sky dive and bungee jump.
“I’ve been FaceTiming a lot of my family, which has helped, but it’s not the same as seeing them in person,” he said.
“My youngest children don’t really understand. They just know Daddy is ill. The rest of the family are devastated, but I have to stay positive for them.”