Dave’s Story
On the 10th of July 2021 David was admitted to hospital after having a suspected stroke having symptoms of double vision and weakness in the left side of his body. 2 days later on the 12th of July he was informed that he in fact had multiple brain tumours. He spent a week in hospital before he was discharged home to wait for a call from Southmead Hospital in order to go and have his biopsy.
He was due to go up to Southmead the following Wednesday after he was discharged however after having an MRI scan it revelled that the tumours had been shrunk too small due to Musgrove Park Hospital issuing him steroids to shrink the tumours which is not standard practise and should be issued after the biopsy. He then returned home after being told to stop the steroids in order for the tumours to grow back to a larger size so that his biopsy could be carried out at a later date, however after only a few days he was admitted back to Musgrove as his blood oxygen levels were too low. They confirmed that he had developed pneumonia. He went to his GP 2 weeks prior to being admitted to Musgrove in regard to his chest and was sent for an x-ray, the x-ray the results confirmed he in fact had a chest infection however as the GP was on holiday when then results came back nothing was followed up and he wasn’t issued any antibiotics. Over the next following weeks David deteriorated so much the tumours left him unable to walk, move or even talk. At times the care on the wards was so poor that the staff weren’t even aware of what he was in hospital for and was left multiple times with his sick all over himself and was left on his hands and knees where he fell over as he was unable to walk. All he was able to do was move his head and squeeze with his right hand. Finally, after weeks of waiting he was finally sent to Southmead for his biopsy. After his biopsy he was admitted to intensive care where he was later admitted to a ward. They confirmed which they thought all along that David had CNS Lymphoma. Unfortunately, the steroids issued after the biopsy in an attempt to shrink the tumours were in effective so no further treatment could be offered. On Thursday 16th of September, we received a phone call asking the family to come to the hospital. They informed us that he had aspirated and developed another chest infection and they gave him hours/days to live. 9 days later on the 25th of September 2021 David lost his battle to cancer. He fought so hard.
We have set up this fund so that we can raise awareness and hopefully improve the ways and time it takes for an accurate diagnosis and give everyone a chance to fight this disease that David never got.
David was a loving husband, dad and grandad. He had an amazing sense of humour and had the ability to light up a room. He enjoyed music, all sports and spending time with his family.
David will be missed greatly by everyone who was lucky enough to have met him.
Sleep tight our angel x