In January 2023, Robert Seward's life took an unexpected turn when a seizure altered the course of his life. A 38-year-old father of three from Marlow in Buckinghamshire, Robert shares his story of resilience, positivity, and the power of exercise and mindset in the face of his diagnosis.

Robert vividly describes the moment he collapsed at home after bringing his kids back from school. The dizziness and breathlessness escalated, leading to a seizure that left him turning blue. His wife, Shelly, played a critical role in averting a tragedy by calling for an ambulance which lead him to our surgeons at John Radcliff Hospital.

George Richards shares his family's journey through his mother's diagnosis of a brain tumour and how it led him to participate in the London Marathon to raise funds for Brainstorm. Living in London with his wife Jen and two sons, Sebastian and Jasper, George tells us of the shock of his mother's diagnosis and the challenges they faced.

It all started when his mother began experiencing dizzy spells and headaches towards the end of the previous year. Which led to George's father taking her to the hospital, where they discovered she had been having minor strokes. This then revealed the presence of a tumour. The family spent the Christmas together, knowing that his mother would undergo a major operation in January.

Rebecca Powell has been incredibly brave to share her story with us. 28yr old Rebecca was diagnosed with a life changing brain tumour at the age of 27years old. Rebecca had been living a relatively normal life enjoying time with her friends and fiancé working in aviation and marketing before she suffered devastating and life changing news.

Rebecca talks us through her diagnosis ‘Just over a year ago on the 20th May everything was normal, I went to sleep feeling absolutely fine. My fiancé Ben found me on the floor having a fit which in turn was a full blown seizure which I have no recognition of’.

Rebecca was later on sent in to have an MRI scan which revealed that she did in fact have a brain tumour which was revealed as a result of being emitted to emergency A&E. She was diagnosed with Oligodendroglioma at Grade 2.

In hindsight, we were so fortunate to enjoy a three month sabbatical in early 2018, visiting Asia, Australia and New Zealand, whilst Dave was 100% fit and healthy.

Sadly, just after we returned in May, he developed a strange drop-foot, which after investigation, showed a small but serious grade 4 glioblastoma brain tumour, affecting his peripheral nerve.

Months after the death of her dad to a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), Sarah Pestana, a loving mum-of-two, wife and teacher, was diagnosed with the same brain tumour. For her husband Rowen and their two boys, history was repeating itself and tragically the disease claimed Sarah’s life just two months after her diagnosis.

“I just couldn’t believe this could be happening. We’d witnessed what the disease had done to John and now we had to relive that nightmare all over again. I was determined to beat it for Sarah, we would try the ketogenic diet – anything to stop her going the same way her dad did.”

It started at teatime on a Friday evening towards the end of September 2017, I had played golf and was chatting to my wife Jan. We had five minutes of quiet and when she went to speak again her words would not come out properly. Her eyes said what my mind was thinking. This is a stroke!

I rushed her to the local hospital, as I knew this would be quicker than calling an ambulance. Half shouting ‘She’s had a stroke’, we got through the A&E admin in moments and after two hours of tests the medics agreed it was a stroke.

Two weeks and many tests later we would have been happy to settle for a stroke, as instead of this, Jan was diagnosed with a grade 4 brain tumour. Jan was calm.