It was now a glioblastoma multiforme!

After collapsing at work, Moses Jeff Hardy, 40, was diagnosed with a brain tumour. He tells his story.

“The first time I became aware that something could be wrong was when I was 32. I had a seizure and collapsed in my office. When I was taken to the local hospital for a CT scan, doctors could see something on my brain. An MRI scan showed it was a tumour.

“The tumour was found to be a Grade 2 astrocytoma in the right temporal lobe and was quite close to the surface. On one hand, this was good news because it was relatively slow growing but, on the other hand, there is no cure for it.

“The first bit of treatment I had was a brachytherapy, where a radioactive seed is planted into the centre of the tumour and then removed after four weeks. This shrunk the tumour. After that, I had MRI scans on a six-monthly basis.

“During 2006 and 2007, I had clean MRI scans. The tumour was still there, of course, but it wasn’t growing. Then in 2008, I had a scan which showed that the tumour had re-grown and, because of the rate at which it had grown, it had become more aggressive. It was now a GBM (Glioblastoma multiforme).

“During this time Id been doing a lot of research and had gone to see two specialists privately. Id discovered that one of them was offering a new treatment with two relatively new chemotherapy drugs, so I shifted my treatment to his unit in Birmingham.

“I had a craniotomy in 2008. This involves removing as much of the tumour as possible and implanting Gliadel wafers of the chemotherapy drug into the tumour bed. I also had external radiotherapy. Luckily, I recovered quite quickly from the surgery. I was in hospital for about four days afterwards and then I was allowed to go home.

“Until September 2010 I was clear, then a scan revealed that the tumour had re-grown. So in March 2011 I had further surgery and the Gliadel ‘wafers’ were implanted again. I also had chemotherapy of five days on and 23 days off, and I’m still having it. I’m now on my 13th round. Its tiring but its a fairly non-toxic chemotherapy and I’m lucky in that I’ve been able to tolerate it.

“I have had eight or nine head operations in total, which obviously isn’t pleasant, but due to the nature of the illness, its had to be done.

“I just get on with living for now. I got married in 2009 and I still work, although part-time at present. I have scans every two months and chemotherapy every month, and that’s how life is for me right now.”

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