04 December 2023 , 16:50
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A father who believed his "drilling" headaches and tiredness were related to having a young family has been diagnosed with a brain tumour.
Thirty-eight-year-old Gary Mackay has been experiencing exhaustion and suspected it was due to working 40-hour weeks along being a dad and keeping up with his social life.
But it turns out he has a grade 2 astrocytoma - a brain tumour - which doctors identified when he collapsed on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night. Gary works as a complaints strategy analyst for Barclays and is from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
He said: "Everything started making sense. My mysterious collapse was actually a grand-mal seizure. The pain in my head, sometimes so severe it felt as if someone was drilling into my skull, and my lack of energy were all caused by my brain tumour."
He collapsed in November 2022 and when he woke up on the bathroom floor, he felt disorientated. He had a CT scan for a suspected stroke before being diagnosed with the tumour which infiltrates healthy brain tissue.
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Gary Mackay, with his wife Lisa and children, Sienna and Sebastian post surgery (Brain Tumour Research / SWNS)As he was waiting for surgery, Gary experienced a major seizure whilst home alone with his son Sebastian, who was aged four at the time. Gary is also a dad to eight-year-old Sienna, as well as five-year-old Sebastian, stating: "I felt a strange aura - what I now know is the feeling you get before you have a seizure - come over me. I had started preparing dinner and put some water on to boil.
"My next memory was waking up as my wife, Lisa, returned home with Holly, and Sebastian saying ‘daddy's been asleep for an hour’. When I came round, I could talk, but wasn’t making any sense. Lisa asked me questions including if I needed medical attention to which I replied 'I think so.' "
In February, Gary underwent a craniotomy to get rid of the 5cm tumour from his brain. Now he is monitored with regular scans, and whilst the operation was a success, Gary understands that the cancer may return and he might need further treatment.
Gary Mackay's MRI scan image (Brain Tumour Research / SWNS)Gary said: "This disease has torn my family’s world apart. We live with uncertainty and that has been horrible to deal with.
"I thought about everything that I could miss in the future, such as walking my daughter down the aisle, spending time with my son and, eventually, becoming a grandparent."
Currently he is training for a National Three Peaks Challenge in May 2024 to raise money for Brain Tumour Research. He said: "From my birthday in November 2022, right through Christmas last year, everything is hazy.
Gary Mackay's post surgery scar (Brain Tumour Research / SWNS)"Although medication was controlling my seizures, the steroids woke me up at 3am every day. It became my alone time where I could just be me and let out my emotions.
"I’m looking forward to spending time with my family this Christmas and I will be training for my hiking challenge from January. I want to raise awareness and money for research into brain tumours to combat this disease and stop other families going through the torment it has brought my family."
Mel Tiley, community development manager at Brain Tumour Research, said: "We’re grateful to Gary for sharing his story and wish him well for any future scans. One in three people know someone affected by a brain tumour, the stats around the disease are disturbing.
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"It’s with the support of people such as Gary that will help us fund research to finder kinder treatments and ultimately a cure for brain tumours."